SYDNEY--South Africa's Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd.
(MUR.JO) won support of independent directors of Clough Ltd.
(CLO.AU) for a buyout offer that values the engineering firm at
1.13 billion Australian dollars (US$1.01 billion).
Murray & Roberts owns 62% of Clough and last month offered
to buy all the remaining shares from minority investors. Still, it
had to convince the Clough board to swing behind its proposal,
which is worth A$1.46 a share.
Clough Chairman Keith Spence said shareholders would likely be
able to vote on the proposal, which includes a cash payment from
Murray & Roberts and a special dividend paid by Clough of
A$0.14 a share, at a meeting in mid-November.
A buyout of Clough appears to be an about-turn in a strategy for
Johannesburg-based Murray & Roberts. Eighteen months ago the
group said it was considering selling part or all of its stake in
the 94-year-old company as it sought to raise funds to weather the
global debt crisis.
It also comes at a low point for investment in Australia's
mining sector as major companies like BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and
Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) look to cut costs by doing engineering work
themselves rather than relying on contractors. Clough has several
big contracts for work in Australia's energy sector, though,
particularly in natural gas where companies are investing US$160
billion to develop facilities that can supply Asia's economies with
cleaner-burning fuels.
Mr. Spence said Murray & Roberts supported the company's
existing strategy.
"Murray & Roberts has indicated that it doesn't intend to
make any material changes to the operations or management of
Clough," he said in a statement.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
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