By Neena Bhandari, IANS,
Sydney : ArcelorMittal has increased its shareholding in Australia’s Macarthur Coal Limited to 19.9 per cent by purchasing a further 5 per cent interest from Talbot Group Holdings, owned by Ken Talbot.
ArcelorMittal said the shares were purchased at $AUD20 bringing the company’s total investment in Macarthur Coal to AUD$843 million.
Macarthur Coal Chairman Keith De Lacy said in a statement Monday: “We are pleased with ArcelorMittal’s continued support and look forward to continuing our long term relationship with them as a major customer.”
ArcelorMittal had paid A$604 million for a 14.9 per cent stake in Queensland-based Macarthur Coal in May, but earlier this month talks with Macarthur for a possible takeover had ended without a deal.
Ken Talbot stepped aside last week as a director of Macarthur Coal, an Australian coal company developing a new generation of coal assets in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
The acquisition of this holding is in line with ArcelorMittal’s strategy of securing its supply of raw materials, in this case through the acquisition of a stake in Macarthur, which is a key supplier of low volatile pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal to the steel mills of Asia, Europe and the Americas. It provides approximately 44 per cent of the low volatile PCI coal exported from Australia