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UPDATE 1-Dutch miner NWR sticks to Bogdanka bid price

Published 11/26/2010, 06:43 AM
Updated 11/26/2010, 06:48 AM

* NWR upholds its current Bogdanka bid

* Will consider lowering acceptance threshold

* Tender ends on Nov 29

(Releads, adds quotes, shares, details)

WARSAW/PRAGUE, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Dutch miner New World Resources stuck by its $1.2 billion all-cash bid for Polish coal miner Bogdanka and dimissed speculation it could raise its offer before a deadline on Monday.

NWR said on Friday it considered the 100.75 zlotys offered for each Bogdanka share to be a "full and fair" price and that it had only limited scope for changing the deal's terms.

"There is only flexibility to waive the 75 percent acceptance threshold, which will only be considered if relevant, after the end of the subscription period," NWR's chief financial officer Marek Jelinek said.

Earlier on Friday, Marcin Zoltek, chief investment officer at Aviva PTE pension fund, told Reuters NWR had offered a new, sweetened deal under which NWR would offer 3-4 of its shares, worth some 103.2-137.6 zlotys, for each Bogdanka share.

Polish daily Parkiet, quoting unnamed sources, also reported on Friday that a new deal was on the cards.

Aviva PTE fund manager Pawel Klimkowski later backtracked, saying that although talks with NWR took place earlier in the week, a share swap had not been discussed.

"We have discussed the current (100.75 zlotys) price. There were no other proposals... There were no talks on any equity swap," Klimkowski said.

Polish pension funds, which own the majority of Bogdanka as well as Bogdanka's management board, have been against the hostile takeover, repeatedly saying that the offered price significantly undervalued the company.

Bogdanka shares had jumped as much as 5.5 percent to 108 zlotys per share in early trade, but after Aviva's backtracking and the NWR statement, gave up gains and and were down 0.4 percent to 102.0 zlotys per share at 1133 GMT.

NWR shares were down 2.8 percent at that time.

On Wednesday, NWR shareholders had approved a share issue of up to 8.4 billion Czech crowns ($449.9 million) or 15 percent of the company's value in order to finance the takeover.

In the original tender, Bogdanka shareholders had until Nov 29 to decide whether to sell their stake. The NWR management board said last week a majority of shareholders would approve the deal and that it would not raise the offer. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Patryk Wasilewski. Editing by Jane Merriman) Additional reporting by Robert Mueller in Prague)

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