Apr. 16: Peabody Energy Corp. enters talks with Macarthur Coal Ltd. after the No. 2 and No. 3 shareholders of the world's biggest exporter of pulverized coal lent their tentative support to the U.S. mining company's improved A$4.1 billion ($3.8 billion) offer. - Laura Board

Apr. 15: Peabody Energy Corp. breaks its week-long silence in the bid battle for Macarthur Coal Ltd. with an improved A$4.1 billion ($3.8 billion) offer that analysts predicted would win the target over. The bid values Macarthur at A$16 per share, a 15% improvement on St. Louis-based Peabody's earlier A$3.56 billion, or A$14 per share, offer. The bid came hours after Macarthur rejected a revised A$3.54 billion cash-and-share offer from rival bidder New Hope Corp. Ltd. - Paul Whitfield

Apr. 14: Australia's New Hope Corp. Ltd. seeks the initiative in the battle for Macarthur Coal Ltd. by adding a A$950 million ($885 million) cash option to its A$3.54 billion all-share bid. - Paul Whitfield

Apr. 9: Macarthur Coal Ltd. suspends plans to buy a smaller rival, giving at least three suitors more time to finalize offers that could value Australia's biggest independent exporter of pulverized coal used in smelting at as much as A$4 billion ($3.73 billion). - Paul Whitfield

Apr. 8: Peabody Energy Corp. turns to Australian regulators for help in its $A3.56 billion ($3.3 billion) bid for Macarthur Coal Ltd., asking them to block the target's all-share deal for a local rival that would end Peabody's own bid. - Paul Whitfield

Apr. 7: Peabody Energy Corp. may have less than a week to make a third bid for Macarthur Coal Ltd. after the Australian coal company rejected an improved $A3.56 billion ($3.27 billion) offer as too low and vowed to push ahead with an alternative deal. - Paul Whitfield

Apr. 6: Peabody Energy Corp. increases its offer for Macarthur Coal Ltd. to $A3.56 billion ($3.27 billion) from A$3.3 billion as it fights with Noble Group Ltd. for control of Australia's biggest independent coal mining operation. - Paul Whitfield

Mar. 31: Australia's Macarthur Coal Ltd. rejects a A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) cash bid from Peabody Energy Corp., claiming the offer undervalues it and does not adequately take into account recent coal price rises. - Paul Whitfield

2009

Dec. 22: Macarthur Coal Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, is planning a friendly A$668.8 million ($595.7 million) takeover of Gloucester Coal Ltd. to become the country's leading independent coal producer. - Laura Board