Peabody, ArcelorMittal get approval for Macarthur bid

Friday, 12 Aug 2011

Sydney, 12 August — US coal producer Peabody Energy and steel maker ArcelorMittal today received approval from the Australian government's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) for their joint A$4.7bn ($4.84bn) takeover offer for Australian producer Macarthur Coal. The ruling signals that Peabody and ArcelorMittal have overcome a key regulatory hurdle to succeed in their bid.

The FIRB has the power to block foreign takeovers of domestic companies or set conditions for a transaction to take place. This is the second time Peabody has attempted to buy Macarthur after it last year made a A$16/share bid that was rejected by Macarthur. The Peabody/ArcelorMittal bid is for A$15.50/share.

Macarthur has not welcomed the bid, but the fall in the price of its main pulverised coal injection (PCI) product in recent months has made it challenging to make the case to shareholders that it should remain independent. Macarthur has several major shareholders including ArcelorMittal, Chinese state-controlled investment firm Citic and South Korean steel producer Posco.

Huainan Mining gets approval to build new coal mine

Mar 4, 2011

Huainan Mining Industry Group Co., Ltd., based in East China’s Anhui province, has gained official approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to build East Zhuji coal mine, sources learnt from the company on Feb 27.

With a total investment up to 3.08 billion yuan, Zhuji mine would have coal production capacity of 4 million tonnes per year, Anhui Daily reported..

In 2010, the company produced a total of 66.19 million tonnes coal, and expects coal output to reach 130-150 million tonnes, said the company.

During the period from 2006 to 2010, Huainan Mining had coal production capacity increasing from 30 million to 40 million tonnes per year through technology upgrading to six modern mines.