Macarthur has announced the outcome of talks with Arcelor and fellow steelmaker POSCO, saying that Arcelor was supportive of Macarthur “in terms of management of competing bids and the various steps taken thus far”, though it “has not yet made a decision about how to vote”

The talks with the steelmakers were prompted by a statement from Noble Group suggesting all stakeholders involved were supportive of the Gloucester proposal.

Noble owns 87.8% of Gloucester and could gain almost a quarter of Macarthur through the scrip-based option of the deal.

Macarthur informed the market that POSCO, which is an 8.3% Macarthur stakeholder, had not indicated to Noble its voting intentions.

The shareholder meeting to vote on the proposal has been pushed back one week to April 19.

The steelmakers are more concerned with security of metallurgical coal supply than profits from Macarthur shares, according to Mine Life senior resources analyst Gavin Wendt, who estimated a successful takeover offer for Macarthur could not be valued at less than $A20 a share.

Macarthur’s board has rejected both Peabody Energy’s revised $3.56 billion, $14 a share cash offer and New Hope’s scrip-based $3.71 billion offer.

Xstrata is also tipped to make a bid for Macarthur.

Macarthur previously disclosed that an investment bank representing Xstrata had approached one of its substantial investors.

Macarthur shares are down 2.5% to $16.10 this morning after gaining nearly $1 yesterday.