Yancoal gets OK to on- sell 16.6 percent of some Rio coal assets

Yancoal Australia has been cleared by its Chinese parent, Yanzhou Coal Mining, to sell 16.6 percent of the key assets of Rio Tinto’s Coal & Allied division once it completes the $ 2.69 billion Coal & Allied acquisition.

Yanzhou said in an announcement that its board had approved a resolution to allow Yancoal to transfer a 16.6 percent interest in the Hunter Valley Operations ( HVO) joint venture to a “third party” following its acquisition of Coal & Allied.

HVO is regarded as the more valuable of the two Hunter Valley coal complexes, which Yancoal is set to acquire from Rio under the deal.

Rio Tinto shareholders last month approved the sale of Coal & Allied to Yancoal, ending a bidding war with commodities trader Glencore.

Yancoal’s Australia- listed shares were placed in a trading halt on Thursday pending the announcement. Yancoal, which Yanzhou owns 78 percent of, was not available to comment.

HVO is 67.6 percent held by Coal & Allied and 32.4 percent by Mitsubishi Corp. Mitsubishi has agreed to sell its stake to Yancoal.

Glencore was not immediately available to comment on whether it would seek to acquire the 16.6 per- cent interest.

Glencore is already the world’s largest exporter of sea- traded thermal coal, with interests in 28 mines in Australia, Colombia and South Africa.

It aimed to blend Rio Tinto coal with its existing operations from custom- tailor shipments to powergenerating customers in some Asian countries.