Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal Lodge Bidder's Statement for Macarthur Coal Offer

Peabody Energy BTU and ArcelorMittal MT today lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission the Bidder's Statement for their all-cash off-market takeover bid to acquire all the shares in Macarthur Coal Ltd. A copy of the Bidder's Statement is available from Peabody's website www.peabodyenergy.com and also from ArcelorMittal's website www.arcelormittal.com. Under the offer, Macarthur shareholders will be offered A$15.50 cash per share, valuing the equity in Macarthur at approximately A$4.7 billion. Macarthur shareholders will also be entitled to retain any final dividend declared by Macarthur in respect of the financial year ended June 30, 2011, up to an amount of 16 cents per share, without reducing the offer price. This represents a total value of A$15.66 cash per share. As outlined in the Bidder's Statement, Macarthur's share price has significantly underperformed its resource peers over the 12 months prior to the initial announcement date of Peabody and ArcelorMittal's proposal. Over this period, Macarthur's share price declined by 17.3% while the S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index rose by 12.8%, meaning that Macarthur has underperformed its resource peers by more than 30%. "Peabody and ArcelorMittal are moving ahead with our compelling bid and look forward to having the offer documents in Macarthur shareholders' hands as soon as possible, " said Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce. "The offer gives full credit to the state of Macarthur's current operations and development projects".