Bhp In $2.5b Qld Purchase
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday July 18, 2008
THE spate of corporate activity in the Australian coal sector heated up last night when BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi agreed to pay $US2.45 billion ($2.5 billion) cash to buy a large development project from the Queensland miner New Hope Coal.
The BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) - the world's largest coking coal producer - said it bought the New Saraji site because it was a high-quality project adjacent to its Saraji mine in the Bowen Basin. New Saraji contains 690 million tonnes of resources. The deal will also give BMA the right to 10 million tonnes of export capacity at the Abbott Point coal terminal as it is expanded.The deal announced last night is the latest in a string of deals in the coal sector, the most recent being the interest in Bowen Basin producer Macarthur Coal. Following an approach from Xstrata Coal, the Macarthur register was divided between steel makers ArcelorMittal and POSCO and Chinese investment group CITIC Resources when two shareholders sold their stock.New Hope is controlled by Washington H. Soul Pattinson.Last year it made a scrip bid for NSW miner Resource Pacific. It lost out following a higher offer from Xstrata.The coking coal price tripled this year to $US300 a tonne after heavy rains in Queensland and infrastructure constraints cut supply.New Hope's chairman, Robert Millner, said his company would use the funds from the New Saraji sale to continue to expand its New Acland mine.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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