Novus seeks new bidder to counter Medco

Australian oil company Novus Petroleum Ltd is looking for another bidder to counter a 241 million bid for it from Indonesia's PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, a financial market source was quoted by Reuters on Monday.

Medco announced on December 22 a conditional offer of A$1.74 a share in cash for Novus, a 35 percent premium to the Australian firm's A$1.29 close on the previous trading day.

Novus said the offer did not take into account the underlying value of the company.

Potential bidders were required to indicate their interest by early next month, the source said.

"Novus is going to try and find another bidder to push up the price," said the market source, who asked not to be identified.

"Even if they don't, what they will do is they will come out with a defence statement saying they may actually be worth a lot more and recommend shareholders hold back and not accept the offer from Medco," the source said.

Companies interested in buying Novus might include some Australian or Indonesian oil companies, the source said, adding international oil majors such as Royal Dutch/Shell would not be interested due to the relatively small size of its assets.

Medco, listed at JSX, is 85-percent-owned by New Links, which is in turn owned by three shareholders: the Panigoro family, Thai upstream oil-and-gas firm PTT Exploration and Production PCL and Credit Suisse First Boston .(*)