British natural gas producer BG Group Plc. on Tuesday made a third bid to buy Australia's Origin Energy Ltd., the country's second-largest power company, in a deal worth 13.8 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion).
BG Group's hostile takeover attempt follows a bid last month that was initially endorsed by Origin's board, but later rejected after a separate deal in the industry caused Origin executives to rethink the company's value.
BG Group said in a filing Tuesday with the Australian Securities Exchange that it is offering A$15.50 per share for Origin, for a total of A$13.8 billion ($13 billion), the same as it offered in May. The company initially offered A$14.70 a share in April.
BG Group said the offer represented a 48 percent cash premium on Origin's closing price of A$10.47 on April 29, just before it announced its first offer.
"Recent transactions, analyzed on a comparable basis, confirm that BG Group's offer provides full value to Origin's shareholders," Chief Executive Frank Chapman said.
"It doesn't need an increase in price _ it is a good offer as it stands," Chapman said.
Origin issued a statement after the new bid that advised shareholders to "take no action at this stage." Its shares rose more than 5 percent to A$16.36 in trading Tuesday.
Origin's board last month endorsed BG Group's initial offer, but then changed tack and declined to put the offer before shareholders after a news broke of a deal between Malaysia's national oil company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. or Petronas, and Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd.
The A$2.6 billion ($2.47 billion) Petronas-Santos partnership to build a liquefied natural gas plant using coal seam gas set a new benchmark for valuing those resources, analysts said.
At the time, Origin managing director Grant King said the company's coal seam gas assets made the company far more valuable than the price being offered by BG Group.
BG Group said Tuesday that the Santos-Petronas deal was not a relevant price benchmark for Origin's coal seam gas reserves.
BG Group's offer is based on a minimum acceptance condition of 50.1 percent.
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