South32 drops plan to buy Peabody mine
South32 says competition concerns have scuttled a $US200m deal to buy a NSW metallurgical coal mine.
South32 says competition concerns have scuttled a $US200 million deal to buy a metallurgical coal mine in NSW, together with a stake in a coal port, from Peabody Energy.
South32 (S32), the coal and metals miner spun out of BHP Billiton in 2015, agreed in November to buy Peabody’s Metropolitan Colliery and an associated 17 per cent stake in the Port Kembla Coal Terminal, south of Sydney.
South32 said today the deal won’t proceed following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s concerns that the proposed deal may substantially reduce competition in coal supply to Australian steelmakers.
“South32 has always maintained that metallurgical coal is a globally traded commodity,” the company said in a regulatory filing. “Given this, South32 is not prepared to make significant concessions in favour of Australian steelmakers that would likely be required to mitigate the competition concerns.”
Dow Jones Newswires
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