I am glad you see Origin's desperate need for extra gas in NSW.
Will Origin lob a bid for MEL? Or will they look to trump Santos' SoA with ESG (as you so persuasively have argued)? Time will tell. With so many joint holders of ESG and MEL, many people won't mind either way.
But I am glad to see you have joined the multi-party idea at last. I welcome Origin to lob at bid at 90 cents, cash. Not because that would be the winning bid (why would Santos be a seller of ESG at 90 cents?), but because we would then know, once and for all, that there is a contested auction for ESG.
You are a sneaky fellow, db. First you argued that there was no takeover interest by Santos in ESG. Then you argued that, yes, there was interest, but that Santos had ESG in a 'squirrel grip'. Then you slowly introduce the idea of 'wouldn't it be so much better to get a cash offer from Origin' ... just quietly sowing the seed that cash from Origin would be better than scrip from Santos.
3 weeks to go til the vote, db.... tick tock.... Act now, Origin, or forever hold your peace. But otherwise, my vote is for Santos scrip. Their advocates, like Alleyronin, at least have the decency to come out and honestly state their case for a Santos/ESG tie-up. And it does make sense from many perspectives. One owner of all of PEL 238, a 3rd Train out of Gladstone selling to the Japanese, and maybe, just maybe, Santos itself (heavily shorted) is itself a target for a Major wanting a huge LNG acquisition... Yes, there is value beyond 90 cents with our gas and their markets...
Better the devil we know, I think db. :)
Yaq
p.s. Nice post earlier in the week, Dogbone. I doubt our new shareholders are in ESG for the 1% arbitrage...
ESG Price at posting:
76.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
