Been a bit of press on the Meijin offer:From...

Been a bit of press on the Meijin offer:

From WAtoday.com.au

MEIJIN UNMASKEDChina's Meijin Energy has been outed as the mystery third bidder for the coalminer Rocklands Richfield.

The first two proposals - the second of which has been dropped - were made by India's Jindal Steel & Power and Essar respectively.

It is hardly surprising that Rocklands has attracted interest from Meijin, China's largest commercial coke producer, given that its primary asset is a coke plant in China.

Rocklands also owns undeveloped coal tenements in Queensland.

Meijin has offered 52c a share, up from Jindal's 42c-a-share bid, and therefore the board has recommended the $200 million Chinese offer.

However, neither is yet a formal offer capable of consideration by shareholders. Meijin has been granted 90 days to conduct due diligence.

It will be interesting to see whether Jindal or another Indian party will return with a higher bid. One issue for Indian miners on the hunt for Australian coal is that the transport costs from Australia's east coast make the product much more expensive than Indonesian coal.

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Source: The Sydney Morning Herald


And from Bloomberg.com
Rocklands Gains in Sydney After Meijin Outbids Jindal (Update1)
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Ben Sharples

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Meijin Energy Group, a Chinese producer of coal used by steelmakers, offered A$154 million ($140 million) for Australian explorer Rocklands Richfield Ltd., topping an offer from Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. of India.

Rocklands rose as much as 21 percent in Sydney trading to 41 cents, the biggest intra-day gain since Oct. 7. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.34 percent. Rocklands traded at 40 cents at 11:07 a.m.

Meijin offered 52 Australian cents for each share, Sydney- based Rocklands said in a statement today. Jindal owns about 14.2 percent of the company, which controls three metallurgical coal projects in Queensland-state, and made a takeover bid of 42 cents a share in September.

Rocklands has gained six-fold in Sydney trading in the last six months, giving the company a market value of about A$119 million. The Meijin offer is superior to the Jindal proposal, the Sydney-based company said. Mumbai-based Essar Group, the Indian operator of telecom, energy, steel and real-estate businesses, last month dropped a bid for Rocklands.

The Meijin and Jindal offers are both preliminary and can’t be submitted to shareholders for consideration, Rocklands said today. Meijin’s proposal is conditional on it acquiring 19.9 to 90 percent of Rocklands, the Sydney-based coal explorer said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at [email protected]

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 19:43 EST