The Board of Macarthur Coal is expected to meet this morning to consider a revised takeover offer from New Hope Corporation that was made after the market closed yesterday.
New Hope is now offering $14.50 a share in cash to investors, with the cash offer capped at $950 million.
The cash component is higher than Peabody Energy’s $14-a-share bid, which was knocked back last week.
Also rejected last week was New Hope’s initial offer of 2.7 of its shares for each Macarthur share.
New Hope’s latest bid is still lower than Macarthur's last trading price of $15.50 a share.
The level of interest in Macarthur has increased just as the price of pulverized coal soars higher.
Macarthur Coal posted a 2009 net profit of $168 million.
