Tinkler, who now resides in Singapore and is a 21.4% shareholder in Whitehaven, wasted no time in making his offer, which the company said was still at a preliminary stage.

Whitehaven shares dropped from a high of $5.58 in April to a low of $3.54 in June. It shares were up by 5.5% this morning to $4.22.

“Whitehaven Coal notes recent media speculation in relation to a potential corporate transaction involving interests associated with Mr Nathan Tinkler,” the company said in a statement.

“Whitehaven confirms that late yesterday it received an indicative, non-binding proposal from Tinkler Group Pty Ltd (an entity controlled by Nathan Tinkler) relating to a possible privatisation of Whitehaven from a Tinkler Group consortium.

“The proposal is highly conditional and incomplete and is not considered capable of being progressed at this time.”

On the possibility that a less conditional and more complete proposal might ultimately develop from this preliminary approach, the directors of Whitehaven had taken steps to ensure the independence of Whitehaven’s response and had established a committee of directors not associated with the bidder to consider any future developments, it said.

The committee is being advised by Grant Samuel Corporate Finance and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.