Keep away: flaring from the jack-up rig Ensco 102 drilling on Origin Energy's Trefoil location off Australia
Origin warns of blackball bid
Australian producer Origin Energy has issued a warning to its shareholders of an unsolicited offer to buy their shares for a price below the market rate.
The Brisbane-based company said today in a brief statement it had "become aware that an unsolicited offer is being made to Origin shareholders to purchase their shares for a price which is substantially below the current market price".
"Origin does not endorse any unsolicited offers and advises its shareholders to carefully check any offers they may receive," the company said.
Origin has a market capitalisation of about A$7 billion (US$6.5 billion), and produced 47.2 petajoules equivalent of oil and gas in the half year ending December last year, 6% higher than in the same period in 2006. It is ranked fourth among Australian-based producers on output behind BHP Billiton, Woodside and Santos.