ENN not Looking to Sweeten China Gas Offer - Paper

ENN Energy Holdings Ltd said its takeover bid for natural gas distributor China Gas Holdings Ltd is "reasonable" and it is not looking to sweeten the offer, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported on Thursday.

"We still think the price is very reasonable," the newspaper cited ENN Executive Director Wang Dongzhi as saying. "The bid price was decided after very careful consideration."

The report said Wang was confident the bid would be approved at an ENN shareholder meeting to be held by the end of February.

Officials of both companies were not immediately available for comment.

Shares of China Gas were flat early on Thursday morning while ENN rose 1.8 percent. That compared with a 0.6 percent decline in benchmark Hang Seng Index as of 0217 GMT.

China Gas said last Friday that nearly a fifth of its about 20,000 employees opposed a $2.2 billion, or HK$3.50 per share, unsolicited takeover offer from rival ENN Energy and state giant Sinopec Corp.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) Chairman Fu Chengyu has said the energy giant's joint bid for China Gas would be positive for the target company.

The consortium said earlier this week that it had no intention of making material changes to the future role of China Gas employees aside from board-level changes, and it continued to seek opportunities to meet with company's board of directors.

Last December, China Gas rejected a cash bid from Sinopec and ENN Energy, saying it failed to reflect the fundamental value of the company.

(reuters.com, Edited by Topco)