no lower bid says uk regulators

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Kalahari Minerals has agreed that China Guangdong Nuclear Power (CGNPC) can cut its indicative offer for the London-based uranium miner but the two sides have failed to persuade regulators to allow a lower bid.

Kalahari said on Tuesday that in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which heightened concerns about the safety of nuclear power, the two companies had agreed to approach Britain's Takeover Panel about a 7 percent cut in CGNPC's possible offer to 270 pence a share.

'The panel executive has ruled that CGNPC-URC is not permitted to announce a firm offer for Kalahari at 270 pence per share, even with the agreement of the Kalahari board,' Kalahari said in a statement, noting that CGNPC had not reserved the right to change the terms of its original possible offer.

Kalahari had announced on March 7 that state-owned CGNPC had proposed a 290 pence a share, or 756 million pound ($1.2 billion) bid, lured by London-listed Kalahari's 43 percent stake in Extract Resources.

Extract owns the Husab Uranium Project in Namibia, potentially the second-largest uranium mine in the world.

The original proposed offer had been 11 percent higher than the stock's closing price the previous day and the shares rose as high as 309 pence in the following days on expectations of a bidding war.

Reuters reported at the time, however, that potential suitors might be reluctant to get into a tussle with China, while the Fukushima disaster and concern over changes to mining laws in Namibia pushed shares below the proposed offer.

Tuesday's statement came after the market close in London where shares in Kalahari had ended up 0.9 percent at 229.5 pence.

'The Kalahari board is appealing against the panel executive's ruling,' the company said.

CGNPC had, at the very least, been expected to extend Tuesday's deadline for making a formal offer due to uncertainty over media reports Namibia may assign mining and exploration rights to a state-owned company. The government plans to brief media on the matter later this week.