24 JUL, 2012, REUTERS
SYDNEY: Aditya Birla Group has sweetened a takeover offer for Australia's Northern Iron by about 4 per cent to A$518 million ($532 million), two months after an earlier attempt was rebuffed.
The latest A$1.40 per share offer, a 75 per cent premium to Northern Iron's closing stock price on Monday, will be considered by the iron ore miner's board and a decision made within a week, the Australian firm said in a statement.
Aditya Birla Group had in May proposed to offer between $1.28 and $1.35 a share, which Northern Iron said failed to reflect the improvements in quality and production rates that it expects to achieve at its iron-ore mines in Norway.
Northern Iron, however, later said it would allow limited due-diligence to facilitate a higher offer from the Indian group.
Aditya Birla Group's offer comes at a time debt-hungry Indian companies shirk away from deals, hurt by weak markets. Overseas acquisitions by Indian companies dipped by 55.5 per cent year-on-year to $2.4 billion in the first half of 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Aditya Birla Group's latest offer, made after the close of trade on Monday, assumes a net debt of A$90 million for Northern Iron and nil dividend from May 2012, the Australian firm said.
Northern Iron shares closed at A$0.8 on Monday and have fallen nearly a fifth since end of May.
($1 = 0.9739 Australian dollars)
SYDNEY: Aditya Birla Group has sweetened a takeover offer for Australia's Northern Iron by about 4 per cent to A$518 million ($532 million), two months after an earlier attempt was rebuffed.
The latest A$1.40 per share offer, a 75 per cent premium to Northern Iron's closing stock price on Monday, will be considered by the iron ore miner's board and a decision made within a week, the Australian firm said in a statement.
Aditya Birla Group had in May proposed to offer between $1.28 and $1.35 a share, which Northern Iron said failed to reflect the improvements in quality and production rates that it expects to achieve at its iron-ore mines in Norway.
Northern Iron, however, later said it would allow limited due-diligence to facilitate a higher offer from the Indian group.
Aditya Birla Group's offer comes at a time debt-hungry Indian companies shirk away from deals, hurt by weak markets. Overseas acquisitions by Indian companies dipped by 55.5 per cent year-on-year to $2.4 billion in the first half of 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Aditya Birla Group's latest offer, made after the close of trade on Monday, assumes a net debt of A$90 million for Northern Iron and nil dividend from May 2012, the Australian firm said.
Northern Iron shares closed at A$0.8 on Monday and have fallen nearly a fifth since end of May.
($1 = 0.9739 Australian dollars)
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