Adani may buy Aussie coal miner's assets for Rs 4,200 cr

India’s largest coal importer Adani Enterprises Ltd is in talks with Australian mining firm Linc Energy to purchase its coal assets in Galilee Basin in Queensland state for a reported A$1 billion (Rs 4,200 crore). The flagship company of Adani Group, the Ahmedabad-based $5 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) diversified business conglomerate, is likely to announce a deal on Tuesday.

“The company is looking at this proposal very closely. BSE has been informed about the development,” said a company executive. The group has interests in power generation, coal, infrastructure, oil and gas, city gas distribution, real estate and commodities trading.

If it materialises, the deal could be the largest single buyout by an Indian firm in Australia’s mining sector. In 2007, Reliance Industries Ltd had bought a 49 per cent stake in eight uranium exploration blocks owned by Uranium Exploration Australia (UXA) in South Australia and Northern Territory at about $4 million.

Linc Energy, whose primary business is underground coal gasification, was in talks with other entities to sell its Galilee coal facility in the Queensland state. “We expect an announcement on the sale of the Galilee tenement to be fairly imminent, probably by the end of the week,” Linc Energy chief executive officer Peter Bond was quoted as saying.