Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), which had last week faced a rival bid from Chinese entity Meijin Energy Group in a quest to acquire South Perth?s coal producer Rocklands Richfield Ltd (RCI), has matched the offer made by the Chinese firm of 56 Australian cents a share for RCI.
The bidding war underscores the race between India and China to secure energy resources abroad to meet the demand in the two fast-growing Asian economies.
This is the second bid price revision by New Delhi-based JSPL, which already owns about 16.4% stake in Rocklands. It had first revised its takeover proposal to 52 cents a share from 50 cents in November following the Meijin Energy bid.
Rocklands, in a statement on Monday to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), said, ?Jindal?s offer for the Perth-based company is for 56 cents per RCI share on a fully diluted basis and six cents per RCI option, with an exercise price of 50 cents.?
JSPL shares on Monday were up 1.09% to close at Rs 711.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The tussle over Rocklands started in September last year, when the company announced a friendly takeover by Jindal at 42 cents a share. Under the terms of that agreement, Jindal then had the opportunity to match any subsequent counter offers. JSPL was earlier facing competition from Essar Steel, which proposed to acquire all of Rockland?s shares at 50 cents per share, valuing the target at about $144 million. Essar later withdrew its bid for Rocklands on October 20, 2009.
Currently, both Jindal?s and Meijin?s offers are conditional, and subject to due diligence.
?The directors of RCI are assessing the revised Jindal and the Meijin proposals,? Rocklands said in a statement to the ASX. Rocklands has three metallurgical coal projects in the Australian state of Queensland with total resources estimated by it at more than 900 million tonne. The company also operates a coking coal plant in eastern China.
Coal, which is the key raw material for the steel and power industry, has been a much-sought after commodity, with most Indian companies scouting globally for coal mines.
Indian steel makers are expanding their search for global raw material assets. Australia is the world?s largest coal exporter and has vast resources of quality coking coal, used in steel making.
