Medco to raise offer for Novus
Wednesday, March 31 2004 - 08:57 PM WIB
Medco Energi Internasional will raise its offer for Novus Petroleum Ltd., an Australian oil and gas explorer, Medco Chief Financial Officer Sugiharto told reporters Wednesday.
Medco will make a new offer by April 8 to improve its earlier bid of A$326 million ($247.5 million), he said. The announcement comes after Novus Chief Financial Officer Michael Royle said today that the Australian company is in talks with other bidders.
Medco in December offered A$1.74 a share for Sydney-based Novus, topped in January by an offer of A$1.77 a share from Sunov Petroleum Ltd., which is led by Novus Chief Executive Bob Williams and Hong Kong-based Crosby Capital Partners.
An independent valuation by investment bank Grant Samuel valued the stock between A$2.02 and A$2.86, as much as 61 percent more than Sunov's offer.(*)