St. Louis, Missouri-based Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company and ArcelorMittal announced Monday that they have jointly submitted a proposal to the board of directors of Queensland, Australia-based Macarthur Coal Ltd.--the world's largest producer of low volatile pulverized coal injection for steelmaking--to acquire all the shares of the company.
The proposal values the equity of Macarthur at A$4.7 billion (US$5 billion) and would result in a 60 percent ownership by Peabody and 40 percent by ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal is currently the second-largest shareholder of Macarthur with about 16 percent. South Korean steel giant POSCO holds a 7 percent stake in the coal producer. Macarthur's largest stakeholder is Citic, a China-based investment fund.
The acquisition proposal is non-binding and is subject to the board of directors' and shareholders' vote and approval of at least 50.01 percent.