I was contemplating where Shell would sit in AOE scheme of things, once the PES takeover is finalised. I have not ascertained whether Shell already has a s/h in AOE, but if it is below 5% then they do not have to announce it. I would be surprised if they did not already have a s/h in Arrow. Shell has 14.88% or 13.887m shares in PES. PES Options of 32m expire Dec 08 - so add to Ords of 93.3m gives total PES Ords of 125.3m. Arrow has about 703.3m Ords currently I think. Takeover of PES by Arrow provides for 1.21 Arrow shares for each PES share, so there will be 151.6m new AOE shares issued to PES s/h.(125.3m x 1.21 = 151.6m). Of these, Shell will get 16.8m new AOE shares (13.887m x 1.21 = 16.8m new AOE shares). AOE expanded capital will be existing ord shares of 703.3m plus 151.6m new shares which equals 854.9m.
Therefore Shell will have almost 2% of the AOE expanded capital (16.8m / 854.9m x 100).
That's a rough calculation. But if Shell already has a holding in AOE, then Shell could potentially be close to up to 7% maybe. anyway, once the new AOE shares are allotted to Shell as a result of the PES takeover, they will have to announce it to ASX if their holding exceeds 5% of AOE.
When Shell agreed to sell their PES shares into the PES takeover they would have had to make a conscious decision as to whether they wanted AOE scrip. They obviously decided they DID want AOE scrip.
IMHO that indicates that Shell would be a very likely bidder for AOE, particularly if they already had a good starting shareholding in Arrow.
That's got to be good for AOE share price !?
cheers
PES Price at posting:
$4.73 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held