Takeover target Macarthur Coal Ltd
(ASX:MCC) plan to takeover fellow coal miner Gloucester Coal Ltd
(ASX:GCL) has fallen apart after Gloucester’s major shareholder Noble Group was unable to convince shareholders to vote in favour of the deal.
In a statement on the company’s website, Noble says that it wishes to announce that the merger proposal between Macarthur and Gloucester was soundly defeated by shareholders in a vote held in Hong Kong yesterday.
Noble Group, who holds 87.7% of Gloucester shares on issue, has offered to acquire all the Gloucester shares it does not already own if the Macarthur bid fails.
Macarthur has tried to hold onto its proposed bid for Gloucester despite the miner finding itself in the midst of a heated bidding war between US coal giant Peabody Energy and Aussie miner New Hope Corporation Ltd (ASX:NHC).
Last Thursday Peabody upped its bid for Macarthur to $16 a share, valuing the company at $4.069 billion.
Macarthur asked its major shareholders to provide feedback on the offer with two of its largest shareholders saying the revised offer worth considering.
Macarthur Coal booked a $168.56 million profit for fiscal 09.
