Australian oil and gas company AWE Ltd said on May 11 it had rejected a A$421 million (US$311 million) takeover approach from U.S.-based private equity fund Lone Star, calling the offer too cheap.

The bid adds to a spate of energy deals in Australia over the past year with acquirers seeking to swoop on beaten down assets, ranging from Beach Energy Ltd.'s takeover of Drillsearch Energy Ltd. to Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s scrapped $8 billion bid for Oil Search Ltd.

Lone Star's Japan Acquisitions unit offered A$0.80 a share, a 30% premium to AWE's close on May 10.

"The board concluded that it is opportunistic and does not reflect the fair underlying asset value of the company," AWE said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

AWE's shares have slumped 58% over the past year, hammered like its peers by sliding oil and gas prices.

The company, which recently appointed a new chief executive, David Biggs, has stakes in oil and gas projects in Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the U.S. As of March 31, it had net cash of A$52 million and no debt.

Lone Star executives in the United States were not available to comment outside office hours.

AWE's shares jumped 20% to A$0.74 in first trading after the announcement, but that was well below the offer price, reflecting uncertainty over whether a higher offer would emerge. (US$1 = 1.3545 Australian dollars)