Aditya Birla mulls bidding for Australian thermal coal miner New Hope
03 Nov 2011
Aditya Birla Group, the $37-billion Mumbai-based multinational conglomerate is mulling a bid for Australian thermal coal miner New Hope Corp that put itself up for auction last month, Reuters yesterday reported, citing sources with direct knowledge.
The group, headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla is expected to appoint an adviser for the bidding process soon, said the news agency.
The group needs thermal coal for its group companies Hindalco Industries and UltraTech Cement, the country's largest aluminium and cement producer respectively.
Queensland-based New Hope said early last month that it is putting itself up for sale after being approached by several suitors, sending Australia's second-largest listed coal miner by output, market value up by 15 per cent to nearly A$5.1 billion ($4.8 billion). (See: Australian thermal coal miner New Hope invites bids)
The thermal coal miner did not reveal how many offers it had received but did say that the potential buyers were both local and overseas companies.
New Hope, which has A$1.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet and reported net income of $503.1 million last year, has open cut mines at Acland on the Darling Downs and at Rosewood near Ipswich.
