China’s Yanzhou Coal plans to acquire the 22% stake it does not hold in its 78%-owned subsidiary Yancoal Australia. Australian shareholders would get 0.91 Yanzhou depositaries for each Yancoal share held, which would value the transaction to A$151m (US$138m) for the entire 22% stake. The acquisition needs the approval of the Foreign Investment Review Board, and might be contrary to the conditions for Yanzhou's previous acquisitions in Australia: Yanzhou had acquired Felix Resources for A$3.3bn in 2009 and Gloucester Coal for A$2.05 in 2012 and merged these companies into Yancoal, on government condition that Yancoal be traded in Sydney and that the Chinese company cut its holding to less than 70% by the end of 2013.
Yancoal has a portfolio of seven operating mines with cumulated sales of 16 Mt in 2011, six projects under feasibility study, a suite of exploration assets and major infrastructure shareholdings.