UPDATE: Yanzhou Makes Bid For Felix Resources

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. (1171.HK) has made a takeover bid for Felix Resources Ltd. (FLX.AU) in a deal agreed by both parties, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.

There have been media reports that Yanzhou could be offering as much as A$25 a share for Felix but the person said the offer is pitched below A$20 a share. They last traded at A$16.90, giving the company a market capitalization of about A$3.32 billion.

Shares in both Felix and Yanzhou were placed on trading halts Monday with Felix flagging an upcoming announcement on a potential change of control.

The Yanzhou bid is the latest in a steady stream of Chinese investment in Australia's key mining sector which have sparked concern among some politicians and commentators. It will require approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board.

The bid has been a long time in the making, with Felix first flagging it was in talks over a possible deal a year ago.

A previous round of talks with Yanzhou stalled in March this year and in June Felix said that, given the global financial environment, it was unlikely that talks with interested parties would be concluded in the near term.

Since then a resurgent Asian steel sector has revived demand for metallurgical coals, and in July the miner said several parties had expressed interest in a "potential change of control transaction."

The deal will be carefully watched by the market as a test of the Australian government's attitude to Chinese takeovers for local mining companies.

The biggest Chinese investment mooted so far, Aluminum Corp. of China's US$19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP), was abandoned in June on commercial grounds but many in China believe the Australian government opposed the deal.

Foreign Investment Review Board officials have signaled Australia's preference is for bidders to take stakes of less than 49.9% in local companies, so the Yanzhou deal will be a test of the government's willingness to allow state-owned Chinese companies to make full takeovers.

Felix operates mines in New South Wales and Queensland state and its production is currently weighted toward higher margin metallurgical coal used in steel making.

However, this weighting is set to change with the development of the miner's A$400 million Moolarben thermal coal project in New South Wales state.

Moolarben is under construction and is expected to boost Felix's thermal coal sales to about 75% of total output as it ramps up from mid 2010.

Felix has an 80% stake in Moolarben, Japan's Sojitz Corp. (2768.TO) holds 10% and a Korean consortium including consortium including Korea Resource Corp. and Korea Electric Power Co. (KEP) holds the remaining 10%.

Felix Managing Director Brian Flannery wasn't immediately available for comment.

A Yanzhou official said the group plans to issue a statement Tuesday regarding its trading halts in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094; alex.wilson@dowjones.com

(Yvonne Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this story)

Felix (ASX:FLX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024