C @Limited enters agreement to acquire eight Mongolian coal licenses

Friday, 28 Oct 2011

Perth based C@ Limited will acquire eight highly prospective Mongolian coal licenses for USD 7.8 million after it signed a conditional Share Sale Agreement with Peabody Winsway Resources to acquire all of the issued capital in its subsidiary BDBL.

Importantly, the eight coal licenses cover 625 square kilometres in a major emerging coal province. The region is characterized by a number of recent major black coal discoveries on the doorstep of the expanding Chinese steel and energy markets.

A number of the licenses are close to existing producing assets and infrastructure with close proximity to major energy markets like China and Russia, which make the economics of this project very favorable.

Four of the licenses are located in the Ongi River Basin in the Ovorhangay province and four are located in the South Gobi Basin in the South Gobi province. As part of its technical due diligence on these licenses, C @ undertook an exploration drilling program which intersected three coal seams on the Ovorhangay licenses. Initial raw coal quality tests at both Mongolian and Australian laboratories have confirmed high quality coking properties both near surface and at moderate depth likely to be enhanced by washing.

All of the licenses have had limited exploration but offer considerable potential. C @ will now undertake a capital raising of up to AUD 28 million including a USD 3 million priority issue to eligible shareholders.

Upon completion of the acquisition, C @ will immediately undertakes Phase II of its exploration program which will include geophysics and a substantial drilling program. Priority will be given to the Teeg licence located in Ovorhangay which intersected two significant coal seams during the company Phase I exploration program.

C @ will undertake a geophysical survey to identify the potential black coal extensions concealed on the licence to support key targets of the drilling program.

(sourced from ProactiveInvestors)

India SAIL chair:to launch share sale by end-March

Thu Feb 3, 2011 12:36pm GMT

* Decision on banks to be taken early next week
* SAIL expected to retain all banks-sources

MUMBAI Feb 3 (Reuters) - State-run Steel Authority of India's (SAIL.BO: Quote) upto $1.9 billion share sale could be launched by end-March, after the steelmaker takes a final decision early next week on lead managers for the offer, its chairman said.
The government had issued notices last month to some of the shortlisted banks for the SAIL offering, asking if there was any conflict of interest, after they also managed rival Tata Steel's $770 million share sale.

"We discussed the legal position. We will be in a position to take a final decision by early next week," SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma told Reuters, after a meeting with government officials.
"We will still be able to launch the offer within this financial year."
The government will sell 5 percent in India's largest domestic steelmaker, which has an annual capacity of around 15 million tonnes. SAIL will issue new shares equal to 5 percent of its existing share capital, to fund expansions.
The government owns about 86 percent in the firm.
SAIL had earlier selected Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote), JP Morgan (JPM.N: Quote), HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote), SBI Capital, Enam Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital to manage the share sale.

SBI, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Kotak were also among the managers for the Tata Steel offer.
The state-run steelmaker is likely to retain all the banks for the share sale, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. (Reporting by Prashant Mehra and Sumeet Chatterjee; editing by Malini Menon, sourced:reuters)

Alpha close to $7 bln Massey deal-sourcesSat Jan 29, 2011

* Alpha to pay about $7 bln for Massey - sources
* Deal would combine two major coal companies
* Deal would be latest in wave of sector consolidation (Adds details, background)
By Michael Erman and Paritosh Bansal

NEW YORK, Jan 28, 2011 - Alpha Natural Resources is close to a $7 billion deal to buy Massey Energy Co , which was rocked by a deadly coal mining accident last year, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
One of the sources said Massey shareholders will receive slightly more than one Alpha share for each Massey share in addition to $10 per share in cash, for a value of around $68 a share. That represents a nearly 19 percent premium over Massey's closing share price of $57.23 on Friday.
The sources said the deal would be worth about $7 billion to combine two of the biggest companies in the Appalachian coal business in the industry's latest consolidation move.
Surging Asian demand for coal to fuel steel mills and power plants has made the sector one of the hottest for dealmaking over the past year.

Recent deal activity in the sector includes Walter Energy's more than $3 billion deal to buy Canadian rival Western Coal Crop , and Rio Tinto's $3.9 billion bid for Africa-focused coal miner Riversdale Mining Ltd .
Massey has said it was weighing strategic options, sparking market speculation that one of its peers may buy it.

ArcelorMittal , the world's largest steelmaker, and St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc had been seen as potential bidders for Massey in addition to Alpha.
The likelihood that Massey would be acquired increased with the departure of Chief Executive Don Blankenship at the end of last year. Blankenship had been seen as opposed to selling the company and analysts in December said his departure removed the largest impediment to a deal with Alpha.

Blankenship had led Massey for 20 years and had been criticised by environmentalists for championing surface mining, and by unions for the company's use of non-union labor.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Abingdon, Virginia-based Alpha and Massey were close to a deal. It said talks were continuing and a deal could be signed on Friday night.
Massey, based in Richmond, Virginia, has been under scrutiny by federal mine safety regulators since an explosion on April 5 last year in one of its West Virginia mines that killed 29 workers, the deadliest U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years.

Massey disputed claims by federal investigators that excessive coal dust fueled the deadly explosion and has said a natural gas leak caused the accident.
In the months following the disaster, Massey shares lost more than half their value, hitting a low of $25.87 in July. They have since bounced back to above pre-explosion levels, helped by reports that the company would likely be acquired. (Reporting by Michael Erman and Paritosh Bansal; additional reporting and writing by Bill Berkrot and Grant McCool, sourced reuters)

TATA Steel to raise up to USD 769 million in share sale

Sunday, 16 Jan 2011
The company, which the market values at USD 12.43 billion, has fixed a price band of INR 594 to INR 610 for the share sale, the company said in a statement.
The price band represents a discount of 1.9% to 4.5% to the stock's closing price of INR 621.70 on Friday.
The issue for 57 million shares will open on January 19 and close on January 21. The anchor book will open and close on January 18.
The company said it would use INR 18.75 billion (USD 413 million) of the money to be raised to fund expansion at its Jamshedpur plant in eastern India.
Part the share sale money will also be used to repay debt of INR 10.9 billion.
Sourced:Reuters