Bloomberg reported that Rocklands Richfield Ltd an Australian coal explorer fell the most in 12 months after ending takeover talks with Jindal Steel & Power Ltd saying the Indian company’s bid was commercially unacceptable.

Rocklands, whose stock almost tripled in the past six months, dropped 25% to 22 Australian cents in Sydney, the biggest decline since Jan. 30th 2009, valuing the company at AUD 77.5 million. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.9%.

The Perth-based company said in a statement that Jindal offer is not in the interest of stakeholders and Rocklands is considering strategic opportunities under its current ownership to maximize shareholder value. The New Delhi-based company raised its bid in December to 56 Australian cents a share, matching a rival offer from China’s Meijin Energy Group.

Mr Sushil Maroo a director of Jindal Steel said “We made the first offer then they got a competitive offer which we matched. This has to end somewhere, he said declining to comment on the company’s response were Rocklands to ask Jindal to further improve its offer.

Calls to Meijin Energy’s head office in Taiyuan in China’s northern province of Shanxi seeking comment weren’t answered.

Mr Benny Wu Chairman said in the statement that Rocklands is strongly positioned to generate growth from its business in the context of a positive environment for companies involved in the coal sector.

Mr John Girdlestone chief executive officer of Rocklands wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Rocklands controls three coking coal projects in Queensland state and a processing plant at Huaibei in eastern China that produces coal used by steelmakers.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)