here is an extract from Business Spectator.it repeats the AFR...

here is an extract from Business Spectator.
it repeats the AFR line that an Asian party may have interest in a J/V with BOW.

and that leads to the other big plus for BOW, in that BOW has 100% of most of its permits. Witness ESG which only has 65% of its main permits.

the other interesting comment below, is it states that SHell is in a hurry! Good stuff!

I cannot see an Asian party lobbing a bid - but I can see the Shell offer causing this Asian party to act quickly and make an offer to farm-in to the BOW permits - and/or sign an MOU or GSA in a hurry.

Of course, this Arrow offer will also cause the Board of BOW to hurry up and tieup an Asian partner!

Frankly, all BOW has to do is to be SEEN to have an alternative avenue to the Arrow offer - one which puts a value on that alternative.

That would add huge value to BOW, and must cause Arrow to up its bid.

23 Aug 2011
Bow Energy, Arrow Energy

With Santos moving to scoop up Eastern Star Gas in July it was only a matter of time before the other independent medium-sized coal seam gas explorers were going to receive offers. The target this time around is Bow Energy, with Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina lobbing a $520 million indicative proposal through their local unit Arrow Energy. Under the proposal, Arrow would acquire all of Bow Energy for a cash consideration of $1.48 per share. Bow was carrying a target price of $1.80 a share at the start of the year but its stock has been hit by volatile markets and was trading at 88.5 cents a share before Arrow?s approach. The 67 per cent premium certainly caught the market?s attention, with Bow shares ending yesterday?s session at $1.41. And while some have pointed out that the offer undervalues the target, the chances of squeezing a better offer from Shell and PetroChina look slim. However, Bow does have a couple of thing working in its favour. The first is that the offer is pretty slim in terms of the dollars per unit of reserves. Arrow is offering 16 cents per gigajoule of proven, probable and possible reserves. That compares poorly to the 51 cents per gigajoule Santos is paying for Eastern Star Gas. With all the major CSG producers keen to shore up their gas reserves, Bow could press for a better price or threaten to drag out the transaction. According to The Australian Financial Review, Arrow may not have the patience for a long affair given it needs to make a quick decision on whether it needs to order enough trains to cater to Bow?s reserves. The paper also points out that the target has a trump card in the form of a potential Asian partner that may be willing to buy Bow?s CSG acreage. The entry of an interested LNG buyer will change the game plan for Arrow, which will then have to raise its offer significantly