sack the board

Seems like COA board just don't want to give up their divi's

Perhaps they should reread the offer!

NHR & Carlyle have qouted equivalent both cum and ex divi prices in the offer & the entire board should step aside and let the shareholders,instos and hedge funds decide if the offers good enough or not

it seems pretty straight forward to me, but obviously whilst COA outlines their guidleines and uses this as an excuse for rejecting the offer,they are still not being as open why they have in fact rejected the bid so quickly!

more details need to be given to the market to advise why they have rejected another offer in particular the so called 'highly conditional' offer and what made it so HIGHLY CONDITIONAL



The revised proposal is an all-cash offer of $6.40 per share for 100% of the issued share
capital of Coates.
The revised proposal was submitted on Friday 31 August 2007 and is $1.05 or 20% above the closing price of Coates shares of $5.35 on Thursday 30 August
2007.
The revised proposal is equivalent to $6.29 per share on an ex-dividend basis and compares to a closing price on 30 August 2007 of $5.24 on an ex-dividend basis.

Under the proposal, Coates could pay a fully franked dividend of up to 64 cents per
share (including the fully franked 11 cent final dividend that Coates declared on 29 August 2007), in which case the offer price would reduce by one cent for each cent of dividend paid. The franking credits attaching to such a dividend could deliver additional value above the $6.40 cash per share offer price of up to 27 cents per share to shareholders who are able to fully utilise the credits.









2 Media Release – Coates announces rejection of a revised offer of $6.29

In accordance with Listing Rule 3.1 Coates Hire Limited releases to the Market the attached Media Release with respect to the rejection of a revised offer of $6.29 on an ex-dividend basis. Yours faithfully Coates Hire
5 September 2007 Media Release Coates Hire announces rejection of a revised offer of $6.29 on an ex-dividend basis for the Company Coates Hire Limited (“Coates”) today announced that the Independent Board Committee of the Board (comprising the Non Executive Directors) has rejected a further highly conditional joint offer for the Company from The Carlyle Group and National Hire Group Limited, which values Coates at $6.29 per share on an ex-dividend basis.

The Independent Board Committee believes the offer continues to undervalue the Coates operations and continues to discount the benefit of substantial synergies, on the basis of Coates’ leading market position, strong geographic footprint and opportunities identified during the Strategic Review to enhance the existing operations of the Company. The Chairman, Mr. Bill Cutbush said: “The Independent Board Committee has unanimously concluded that this bid continues to undervalue the Company and is again not at a level that justifies recommendation to its shareholders. The emergence of a higher bid indicates that the decision to reject earlier offers was correct and the Independent Board Committee maintains this view in relation to the latest offer.

“Given the amount of speculation in the press, the Independent Board Committee makes the following comments for the sake of clarification of its position in assessing the bids: 1. Bids have been submitted on a ‘cum dividend’ basis and in light of the announcement last week of a final dividend of 11 cents per share in relation to FY2007, should more accurately be assessed on an ‘ex dividend’ basis, after deduction of the 11 cent final dividend that Coates shareholders are already entitled to. 2. The franking credits currently in the Company will be paid out to shareholders in the normal course of business and are not an additional value which an external bidder can add to the bid price. 3. As well as being assessed inadequate on price, the offer contains numerous material conditions including in relation to financing and other material commercial matters which are unacceptable to the Independent Board Committee.

“Coates continues to see opportunities to grow and diversify the business and achieve higher returns from the existing asset base, amid both a strong current trading environment and a favourable longer term trading outlook.

The Independent Board Committee does not feel recent instability in global markets should have any bearing on the longer term value of the Company and has been mindful of this in coming to its decision.” he concluded.