Austal shares jump as Hanwha gets more time to bid for US unit

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Australian shipbuilder Austal ASB.AX said on Wednesday it had extended the due diligence period for Hanwha Group, allowing the South Korean conglomerate more time to formulate a formal offer for its US business, sending its shares sharply higher.

Here are some details:

• Austal said commercial negotiations with Hanwha had started on the terms of a potential transaction, while the company also continues to assess its tax implications.

• Austal shares jumped as much as 11.5% to A$4.18 by 0315 GMT, posting their strongest intraday gain since August 11.

• "Regarding due diligence, while the substantive issues in the data room have been closed out, and the original parameters of the transaction have not changed, a tail of lower materiality data requests remains outstanding," Austal said in a statement.

• The company said it also remains in discussions with US-based Wildcat Infrastructure regarding its proposal to acquire Austal's US operations.

• Wildcat Infrastructure in September offered up to $1.35 billion for Austal's US business, topping an earlier bid of up to $1.20 billion from Hanwha.