CITIC Becomes Macarthur Coal's Top Shareholder

China's CITIC Resources Holdings has raised its stake in Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd to 20.39%, overtaking global steelmaker ArcelorMittal as the top shareholder.

CITIC built its holding from 17.66% after winning approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board and Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

CITIC has been a major shareholder since Macarthur went public in 2001 and a joint-venture partner for more than ten years.

"We look forward to CITIC's increased investment and continued support as we focus on growing the business," Macarthur Coal Chairman Keith de Lacy said in a statement on Tuesday.

Australian takeover rules require any shareholder who buys 20% of a company to make a full takeover offer. But CITIC is not required to do so, under a "creep provision" that allows a shareholder to raise its stake above 20% by buying up to 3% of the company every six months.

CITIC Australia Chairman Chen Zeng was not available for comment.

Takeover speculation on Macarthur died down this month after talks with ArcelorMittal, which owns 19.9% of Macarthur, ended without a deal and after Korea's POSCO bought a a 10% stake, large enough to block a full takeover.

Shares in Macarthur fell 3.6% to A$17.20, underperforming a 0.9% fall in the materials index. When ArcelorMittal was talking to Macarthur, investors had been expecting an offer of around A$20 a share.

Reporting by Sonali Paul, Reuters .