Xstrata Buys Tahmoor & Anvil Hill in Australia

Xstrata Coal Pty Ltd. announced during September its intention to make an offmarket takeover cash bid to acquire Austral Coal Ltd. for A$557 million ($501 million). Under Xstrata Coal’s proposal, Helios Australia Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of Xstrata Coal, will offer to acquire all of the shares in Austral. Xstrata Coal, Austral and Helios have signed a bid implementation agreement under which standard exclusivity arrangements have been agreed. The offer is subject to a set of limited conditions, including an 80% minimum acceptance condition and regulatory approval.

“The acquisition of Austral’s Tahmoor underground mine will increase Xstrata Coal’s exposure to hard coking coal at a time of significant growth within the market,” said Xstrata Chief Executive Peter Coates. “It will also facilitate the company’s entry into the southern coalfields and allow immediate access to an unconstrained port.” Austral’s Tahmoor mine is a longwall operation in the southern coalfields of New South Wales (NSW), producing approximately 2.3 million metric tons per year (ROM) in the last financial year. Tahmoor exports via Port Kembla, near Wollongong.

Xstrata Coal also recently announced its plans to purchase the Anvil Hill Project for A$425 million ($382 million) from Centennial Coal. The Anvil Hill coal project is located in the Upper Hunter Valley, NSW, with the mine plan envisaging production of up to 10.5 million metric tons of both domestic and export grade thermal coal annually over a 20 year period.

“Xstrata Coal is an industry leader with the business principles, experience and capacity to develop the Anvil Hill site in accordance with global environmental and safety standards,” Coates said. “We also have a proven commitment to working with the communities which neighbor our operations.”