The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) has made a US$959m offer for the remaining 55% of Sakari Resources it does not already own, in a move to expand its coal interests and further diversify from its core focus on oil and natural gas. State-owned PTT, through PTT Asia Pacific Mining, already controls 45.4 per cent of the Singapore-listed operator of coal mines.
PTT has launched a tender offer for the rest of Sakari at US$1.5 per share, valuing the company at about US$1.8bn – 8.8 times earnings before interest and tax, according to Bloomberg, compared with an average of 17 times for 10 comparable deals.
PTT has announced it plans to invest more than $11bn in energy assets in 2012-2016 and aims to boost coal output more than six-fold to 70 Mt by 2020.
The acquisition, which would result in the delisting of Sakari from the Singapore exchange, would give PTT control of two Indonesian coal mines and a Singapore-based trading company.
The deal follows the successful bid by PTT Exploration & Production, against Royal Dutch Shell, for control of Cove Energy, the Africa-focused gas explorer. PTTEP is paying about $1.9bn for Cove, which owns an 8.5 per cent stake in Rovuma 1, one of the world’s most promising gas fields, off the Mozambique coast.