South Africas Murray and Roberts Holdings Limited turned down a takeover bid from German engineering company Aton GmbH saying that its offer "materially undervalues" the company
The engineering and mining contractor said its board views 20.00 rand - 22.00 rand per share as a "fair value price range" for control of the company.
Aton, which owns 30 per cent of Murray and Roberts, offered to buy rest of the Murray & Roberts shares it does not own at 15.00 rand per share.
The offer from last week represents a premium of 55.6 per cent to Murray and Roberts' closing price as of 23 March and values the company at about US$560.5mn.
Murray and Roberts more than doubled its headline earnings per share for the six months ended December 31 on the back of strong performance in its underground mining business, which accounts for the biggest share of its earnings.
