Macmahon looks to other takeover opps

Macmahon Holdings Ltd said it will look at other acquisition opportunities after its takeover bid for Ausdrill Ltd officially closed.

The bidder said today that the offer lapsed with the remaining conditions to the offer unfulfilled at the time.

As a result, acceptances of the offer by Ausdrill shareholders are invalid.

Macmahon was offering 1.65 of its shares for each Ausdrill share, an increase from its original bid of 1.45 shares launched at the end of May this year.

At the offer's close, Macmahon said it had received acceptances representing some 16 per cent of Ausdrill shares, including acceptance instructions representing 10.6 per cent under the Institutional Acceptance Facility.

However, as a result of the lapse of its takeover offer, Macmahon no longer holds a relevant interest in Ausdrill shares and today lodged a ceasing to be a substantial shareholder notice to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"While 399 (over 10%) of the shareholders in Ausdrill believed our offer of over 1.65 Macmahon shares for every Ausdrill share was compelling enough to accept, it was not enough to reach our minimum acceptance condition," Macmahon chief executive Nick Bowen said.

"However the extensive valuation work we did on Ausdrill supported our offer, which had an average implied value of just under $3 since our increased offer was announced on 20 August 2008.

"We have been disciplined in our approach of not over paying for acquisitions and will continue to do so in the future.

"We remain focused on continuing to grow our business with sustainable profits, and will assess other opportunities for inorganic growth as and when they arise."