South32 drops plan to buy $200m Australian coal mine

Leading metal and coal mining company South32 announced that the company has dropped the plan to buy Peabody Energy's Metropolitan coal mine worth $200-million in Australia.  The company was not ready to make concessions in favour of Australian steelmakers. 

South32 CEO Graham Kerr said, "To proceed with the acquisition, in light of the anticipated concessions, would have compromised the merits of the transaction and this is not something we are prepared to do." 

South32 had proclaimed in November that it decided to buy Peabody’s Metropolitan Colliery and an associated 17 per cent stake in the Port Kembla Coal Terminal. 

{googleAdsense}

Peabody president Glenn Kellow said in a statement, "We are surprised that South32 and the ACCC reached an impasse, given both the physical synergies and the global nature of the metallurgical coal markets."

"On the other hand, we see continuing opportunities given Metropolitan's quality coking coals and port location, and our objective will be to operate the mine while maximising returns in the international marketplace."