Coal India Ltd (CIL), the state-owned coal miner, has received multiple partnership offers from the 12 global mining companies, which it has shortlisted for forging strategic tie-ups for overseas mines.
The coal major plans to “rank” these offers per company by January-end.
A senior company official told DNA, “We’ve received a number of offers from these 12 companies. Broadly, Coal India has identified three main areas of partnership. While one could be equity participation by Coal India, the second option could be joint venture participation. There could be a third option of a tie-up on coal offtake, where Coal India could buy the coal at a discount to the market price.”
The company would rank the offers by assigning scores. “Whichever partnership scores higher will be given the top rank. By end of January we will select a merchant banker from our empanelled list to conduct the due diligence,” the official said.
The state miner has been keen to acquire thermal coal assets globally to plug any shortage in the future. Out of 52 companies which submitted expressions of interest, 12 were shortlisted on the basis of the quality and quantity of their coal production.
Sources said that companies including Foresight, Murray Energy, Coal and Oil-Kideco, Nobel, Massey Energy, Peabody Harvest Indo and Trishakti have started negotiations.
While Rio Tinto and Xstrata have asked for time, Jaguar and P T Bumi have opted out.
Coal India, which was earlier considering acquiring mines through a direct participation, has now switched over to the tendering mode, where more companies can participate.
For Coal India, international partnerships are extremely crucial, especially in the wake of being identified as a potential Maharatna, along with some other public sector companies.
Earlier, analysing the importance of an overseas presence, Bhaskar Chatterjee, secretary,Department of Public Enterprises and Heavy Industry, had said, “Coal India is yet to be present internationally in a big way, which is one of the qualifiers for the Maharatna status. But once they hit the market the situation would change significantly.”
Comments