In a brief statement Pac Hydro said: "The securities of Pacific Hydro Limited will be placed in pre-open at the request of the Company, pending the release of an announcement by the Company. Unless ASX decides otherwise, the securities will remain in pre-open until the earlier of the commencement of normal trading on Wednesday, 20 April 2005 or when the announcement is released to the market."

In late March, Spanish company Acciona offered $700 million in a friendly takeover of Pacific Hydro. But Acciona's offer of $4.50 a share had a 90% acceptance condition and Development Australia Fund (DAF), part of the Industry Funds Management (IFM) group, which owns 31.73% Pacific Hydro, said it didn't want to sell.

IFM then said it was looking at joining together with Acciona's bid or even making a counter bid for Pac Hydro.