By Fayen Wong
PERTH (Reuters) - Australian miner New Hope Corp
New Hope, valued at almost $4.1 billion, is pitting itself against St.Louis-based Peabody Energy
That is a 4.1 percent premium to Peabody's already sweetened A$14 a share offer, which Macarthur rejected earlier this week.
In an unsourced report, the Australian Financial Review said London-listed Xstrata Plc
Macarthur said it had not received any offer from Xstrata, but analysts said the Swiss-based miner, which has major coal operations in Australia and is the world's biggest exporter of coal for power plants, could be trying to weigh up how much support it could get for a possible bid.
Macarthur's top three shareholders -- China's CITIC Resources Holdings <1205.HK> and steel giants ArcelorMittal
Macarthur shares jumped more than 10 percent on Friday in heavy trading that was nearly four times the daily average, hitting a year-high of A$15.91 in a largely flat broader index <.AXJO>. New Hope shares edged up 0.4 percent to A$5.33.
The two rival offers mean Singapore-listed commodities firm Noble Group Ltd's
Noble and Peabody said they had no comment at this stage.
Macarthur, led by CEO Nicole Hollows, said it was assessing New Hope's bid and whether to delay a shareholder vote on Monday to approve the Gloucester bid.
"The price is getting up there ... Macarthur will probably have to delay the shareholder meeting and take a fresh look at things," said Tim Schroders, portfolio manager at Pengana Global Resources Fund, which does not own Macarthur shares.
"The latest offer has clearly put Macarthur in the game and there will be a lot of other players out there interested in getting a slice of its resources," said an analyst at a major investment bank, who declined to be identified.
Macquarie and Morgan Stanley have said in research notes this week that a buyer may need to offer closer to A$16 a share to win Macarthur minority shareholders' support.
Macarthur is the world's biggest exporter of pulverized or PCI coal, a cleaner input for steelmakers' blast furnaces.
The frenzy over Macarthur is the latest in a flurry of coal deals in Australia, where the number of big independent producers is dwindling as mining majors turn to acquisitions to satisfy booming Asian demand.
NEW HOPE
New Hope, smaller than Macarthur in both market value and production capacity, said it was offering 2.7 of its shares for every Macarthur share -- valuing the deal at A$14.58 a share based on New Hope's last close.
In a statement, New Hope said its offer was "superior to both the Gloucester transaction and the highly conditional, non-binding, indicative proposal" from Peabody.
Peabody has more fire power, but analysts said New Hope's offer could appeal to longer-term investors who may believe coal prices still have a long way to run.
New Hope said a merged entity would have an implied market value of over A$8 billion, and would have a diverse range of coal products, with five operational mines shipping through two coal terminals.
Brisbane-based New Hope, led by CEO Robert Millner, produces about 5.5 million tonnes of coal a year, mostly for power generation.
A New Hope spokesman said the firm had not yet made direct contact with Macarthur's shareholders.
($1=1.077 Australian Dollar)
(Additional reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram in SYDNEY, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
