Arrow Energy agrees on revised $3.44 billion bid from Shell, PetroChina

The Queensland-based coal seam gas producer who has been a subejct takeover for year, expressed its liking on thier join takeover bid by both energy giants earlier today. The bid, which has been agreed by Arrow Energy, would be deal worth doing for Shell itself, as its involvement in the Curtis Island LNG project could give Shell the backed up reserves it requires.

Shell and PetroChina's orginal bid at $4.45 a share is seemingly not quite enough for analysts and they speculated, suggesting the share could increase up to $5 a share. Since the annoucement of the takeover, Arrow's share trading activity had been in a chaos, with the share last traded on Thursday at $5.29.

Looking at the seemingly promising future of Arrow Energy, the takeover process would be difficult. Even before, the takeover must be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board. The Board examines proposals by foreign interests to undertake direct investment in Australia, which means that the presences of PetroChina in the bidding joint venture means the Arrow offer will face additional scrutiny.

The coal-seam gas producer has announced that under the new deal, Arrow shareholders will receive cash of $4.70 per share, plus one share in a new listed entity, Dart Energy.

Dart Energy will have a $27.31m loan facility from Shell and the chance to co operate with PetroChina with future coal seam gas opportunities in China.