BG makes $13.1b hostile bid for Origin

BG Group Plc put its A$13.8 billion ($13.1 billion) bid for Australia's Origin Energy Ltd direct to shareholders, saying management was wrong to reject the offer and may have overvalued its coal-seam gas reserves.

The hostile all-cash offer values shares of Australia's biggest producer of gas from coal seams at A$15.50 each, 48 percent more than they were trading at before BG, the United Kingdom's third-largest oil and gas producer, first bid on April 30.

Origin's shares jumped above the offer price to a record as investors bet the bid may be increased to win shareholder support. BG wants the Sydney-based company's gas resources in eastern Australia, which may feed a proposed liquefied natural gas project supplying utilities in northern Asia.