TMOC TELLS SHAREHOLDERS NOT TO ACCEPT SANTOS BID
<TMOC Resources Ltd> told shareholders
not to accept Santos Ltd's <STOS.S> 4.00 dlr a share takeover
bid pending advice from Macquarie Hill Samuel Corporate
Services, its corporate advisor.
    It said in a statement the Santos bid was below the
underlying value of the shares as assessed by Macquarie Hill
Samuel at between 4.08 dlrs and 4.72.
    TMOC, formerly the Moonie Oil Co Ltd, said the valuation
was made in response to an earlier and still current bid of
2.55 dlrs a share by <Elders Resources Ltd>. Elders Resources
holds 19.9 pct of TMOC's 62 mln shares.
    TMOC said it did not know Elders Resources' response to the
bid or that of its other major shareholder the <Australian Gas
Light Co>. The latter has a 10.5 pct stake in TMOC.
    <Avalon Corp> of the U.S. Has a 17 pct stake in TMOC
through an option agreement.
    Santos, which is 15 pct owned by Elders Resources,
yesterday said its bid valued TMOC at 248.5 mln dlrs.
    TMOC said today this was not a premium over the share price
before the bid and that TMOC had traded at up to 4.06 dlrs a
share in the last two weeks.
    TMOC said in the statement that the bid was unsolicited and
that Santos had only a 3.07 pct stake despite paying up to four
dlrs a share on-market.
    TMOC has oil and gas interests and pipelines which
complement the operations of Santos, the major Cooper Basin oil
and gas producer.
    TMOC shares today closed five cents up at 4.15 dlrs on
turnover of 182,000 shares while Santos, due to release its
profit result today, rose eight cents to 4.50 dlrs on volume of
245,000 shares.
 REUTER
