Chinese coal enterprises seek for bottom fishing in Australia
[2008-12-23 17:04:13]
China's coal enterprises are taking good opportunities of bottom fishing in Australia amid plunging coal price, shrinking coal market value in Australia and depreciating Australian dollar.
Earlier, a report went that Yanzhou Coal was considering a 3 billion-Australian-dollar bid for Australian coal producer, Felix Resources Ltd.. Some managers of Yanzhou Coal visited Australia recently to take on-site investigation of the Ashton open pit coal mine of Felix.
However, Yanzhou Coal declared that the company was looking for good opportunities for overseas acquisitions but had not reached any cooperation agreement.
Meanwhile, Shenhua Watermark Coal Pty Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Shenhua Group Corporation Ltd, China's largest coal producer, has paid 1.308 billion yuan or 300 million Australian dollars to the New South Wales State government in Australia for acquiring the prospecting license of watermark coalmine in Australia.
It is learned that since last December, international coal mining groups have been facing financing problems. Stock prices of Anglo-American PLC and Xstrata PLC have shrunk by half.
Also, the Australian dollar has dropped 35 percent against RMB in a time span of 8 months from the beginning of this March to the end of November, which saved 700 million yuan for Shenhua in the acquisition cost.
Huang Qing, board secretary of Shenhua, noted that Australian government welcomes all bidders against the background of international financial crisis. What they concern most is the continuous investment of bidders in projects.
Therefore, it is favourable for Chinese coal enterprises with good financial status to look for bottom fishing opportunities in Australia.
