British group BG says has 90% of Pure Energy

British oil and gas group BG now controls more than 90 percent of Pure Energy of Australia after another Australian company, Arrow Energy, agreed to sell BG a 20.59-percent stake in Pure, BG and Arrow said in a statement.

Arrow Energy said it had accepted BG's takeover of Pure Energy, selling the British group its entire stake, a transaction worth 200 million Australian dollars (100 million euros, 272 million US dollars).

Directors at Pure Energy, which had initially accepted the Arrow bid, later revised their position and agreed to a higher offer from BG.

BG had offered 8.25 Australian dollars per share in Pure Energy, or a total of 1.026 billion Australian dollars (520 million euros, 713 million US dollars).

But it had said it would lower the bid to 8.00 dollars a share if it had not received at least 90 percent of the capital of Pure Energy at the close of the bid period.

With the inclusion of the Arrow stake, that condition was met and BG said it would now pay 8.25 dollars a share.

The takeover marks a big step in the expansion of BG into Australia, which it sees as a strategic area for development, being rich in oil and gas resources and well placed to supply markets in Asia where demand for energy has risen sharply in recent years.

Last year BG paid 5.6 billion Australian dollars for Australian group Queensland Gas (QGC) by means of a friendly takeover, having tried unsuccessfully to bid for another local group, Origin Energy.