BHP shareholders will probably get a $US1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) special dividend on the back of Monday’s sale of two Queensland coal mines to an Indonesian-backed company that wants to aggregate more of Australia’s Bowen Basin coalfields.

BHP’s 80 per cent stake in the South Walker Creek and Poitrel mines will pass to ASX-listed Stanmore Coal under a deal that requires Stanmore to raise debt and equity worth a staggering six times its market capitalisation.