article in the age, page-3

That is a good article on csg!

The Shell/Petrochina bid for AOE is definitely a starting gambit ... I don't see why the battle for AOE should be any less than AOE/BG's battle for PES. That started with an AGREED DEAL from AOE (PES's JV partner and ~23% shareholder) at an 80% premium to the last price on 22 December 2008 of $2.98 .. being $5.40. It was a scrip plus cash offer and was bettered by BG on 9 February 2009 with an all cash bid of $6.40. AOE raised their offer to $7.16 on 11 February and BG went to $8.00 on 17 February. The market however drove it higher to around $8.20-$8.30 on speculation AOE would bid again .. so BG raised their offer to $8.25 to clinch it. On march 24 AOE finally accepted BG's offer fro their 23% of PES.

This chronolgy says a number of things. For a start the old cliche .. the first bid is NEVER the last! And that it can take some months for the game to play out. PES was actually over more quickly than some .. eg the BG takeover of QGC. All worth remembering if and when a move on ESG happens.

Interesting times again in csg world! The move on AOE re-inforces the attracticeness of CSG assets to the large international players .. and we have to expect that more than one or two of them will be running the ruler over ESG!

H