Jan 24 (Reuters) - Australia's Norwest Energy NL (NWE.AX) said on Tuesday it had agreed to an improved A$497 million ($349.89 million) offer from Mineral Resources Ltd (MinRes) (MIN.AX) to buy the remaining stake in the oil and gas company. The fresh offer comes just weeks after Norwest rejected an unsolicited A$402.8 million bid from MinRes, saying the proposal undervalued its assets and had been "opportunistically timed".
Norwest shareholders will receive one fully paid ordinary MinRes share for every 1,300 Norwest shares held under the revised offer. MinRes had earlier offered one share for every 1,367 Norwest shares.
The fresh bid from mining services provider MinRes, which already owns a 19.9% stake in Norwest, indicates an implied offer price of 7.41 Australian cents per Norwest share, compared with the previous offer price of 6 Australian cents per share.The Norwest board recommend shareholders accept the new offer and said shareholders accepting the bid before the extended closing date of Feb. 20 would be entitled to receive interim dividend from MinRes for the first half.
The company, which said no superior offer had so far emerged, is also a minority joint venture partner of MinRes in the Lockyer Deep gas project in Perth Basin.
"The revised offer provides Norwest shareholders with an opportunity to maintain an interest in the Lockyer project through an investment in MinRes, being a company with significantly greater balance sheet strength and underpinned by a diverse portfolio of operations," Norwest Chairman Ernie Myers said.
