Separately, Senex has signed an agreement with Australia Pacific LNG to acquire undeveloped gas fields PL 209 and PL 445 for A$80m

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The latest bid from POSCO International is the third sweetened offer to acquire Senex. (Credit: Retina Creative from Pixabay)

POSCO International has launched a revised bid to acquire Australian natural gas producer Senex Energy in a deal worth A$852m ($630m).

In October this year, the trading arm of South Korea’s steel company POSCO proposed to buy Senex for a cash offer price of A$4.40 per share.

Under the revised offer, the company intends to pay A$4.60 per share.

The latest bid from POSCO International is the third sweetened offer to acquire the coal seam gas producer. In August this year, the company revised the offer to A$4.20 per share from A$4.00 launched in July.

Senex said that it intends to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the latest revised offer.

The company has also extended POSCO International’s exclusivity period to 26 November to give time to negotiate and sign a binding scheme implementation agreement.

The firm stated: “Subject to negotiating an acceptable Scheme Implementation Agreement, no superior proposal and an independent expert concluding that the transaction is fair and reasonable and therefore in the best interests of shareholders, the Senex Board intends to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the proposed transaction.”

Separately, Senex has signed an agreement with Australia Pacific LNG to acquire undeveloped gas fields PL 209 and PL 445 for A$80m.

The gas fields are located adjacent to Senex’s Atlas natural gas development.

The fields contain a 77km2 development-ready Northern Area and a 77km2 Southern Area requiring future appraisal.

The acquisition is expected to enable Senex to expand the production capacity of Atlas to a 30 PJ/year plateau in 2024.

In August this year, the company announced a final investment decision (FID) to increase gas production from Atlas by 50% to 18 PJ/year.

Senex stated POSCO International has confirmed that its latest cash offer price takes into account the value attributable to the proposed acquisition of the natural gas fields from Australia Pacific LNG.