KEY POINTS:
Contact Energy shareholders are standing by for news from BG, the British gas giant that is trying to take over its parent company, Origin.
BG said today it has been in touch with the New Zealand Takeovers Panel, and is set to make an announcement on a ruling the panel has given. Origin owns 51 per cent of Contact, which is the second largest company on the NZ stock exchange.
The company has given no indication of when this announcement might be made.
Britain's BG Group last week launched a takeover attempt for Origin, Australia's second biggest electricity and gas retailer.
Questions have been raised about what it plans to do with Origin's stake in Contact Energy, if it is successful in its A$12.9 billion ($15.95 billion) takeover bid.
A purchase of Origin's 51 per cent stake should automatically trigger a full takeover for Contact, which is New Zealand's largest non-state owned energy company.
Analysts were almost unanimous in agreeing BG, a giant liquefied natural gas (LNG) operator valued at US$86.5 billion ($113.48 billion), was only interested in Origin's gas and coal seam assets and had little to no interest in Contact.
BG's bid was subject to approval from Australian regulators, as well as New Zealand's energy minister David Parker, the Takeovers Panel, and Overseas Investment Office.
In an announcement made today to the Australian stock exchange, BG said it had made a confidential submission to the NZ Takeovers Panel.
"BG Group notes that it received yesterday a ruling from the NZ Panel concerning Contact Energy Ltd which will be the subject of a separate announcement to be agreed with the NZ Panel," it said.
Shares in Contact Energy were up 4c at $9.07.
- NZPA
