More gas takeovers make mockery of "sovereign risk"

Meh:

Kerry Stokes-backed Beach Energy has swiftly moved to regain the upper hand in the escalating takeover battle for West Australian gas developer Warrego Energy, lobbing a higher offer that tops the surprise bid by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting by 2¢ per share.

WA has cheap-as-chips domestic gas prices thanks to effective gas price caps. Beach is heavily exposed to eastern markets and is having no trouble mustering capital for big takeover offers.

The pathetic “sovereign risk” argument for not intervening in eastern gas markets takes another billion-dollar blow to the head.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.

More gas takeovers make mockery of “sovereign risk”