PetroChina and Royal Dutch Shell have denied a media report that said they had received Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval for their takeover bid for Arrow Energy Ltd
(ASX:AOE).
A report in the Australian Financial Review this morning indicated that the joint venture partners received the green light from the review board last week, satisfying one of the key conditions of the proposal.
Reuters reports a spokesperson for the Shell/PetroChina joint venture saying that the JV partners continue to work with the Foreign Investment Review Board on their application to acquire Arrow Energy, which was only lodged last week.
The Foreign Investment Review board’s investigation into the $3.45 billion proposal could take up to 4 months.
Under new guidelines issued by the review board last year, major transactions involving state-owned enterprises, in particular those in which it will gain a significant size of an Australian asset, are likely to come under greater scrutiny of the board.
Arrow Energy’s net profit after tax for financial year 2009 came to $366.85 million.
