Noble, which holds a 21.7% stake in Gloucester, has launched a rival bid for Gloucester a week after the coal play announced a proposed merger with Whitehaven Coal.
Spruiking the latest offer, Noble director William Randall said the company’s $A4.85 per share offered “fair value” for Gloucester shareholders.
He said the Noble bid represented a 54.2% premium to the closing price of Gloucester’s shares on February 19, the last trading day before the announcement of the Whitehaven merger.
“We’re offering fair value – the premium is huge,” Randall said in a teleconference this morning.
“We can’t see why parties would not see this as an opportunity to secure value during unstable markets.”
In addition to providing value to shareholders, Randall said Noble’s bid was borne out of a desire to protect its project pipeline.
Gloucester stocks have sunk 9c to $4.82 this morning.
