Merchant bankers advise CIL on Indonesian mine buys

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) is being advised by four to five merchant bankers on acquisition of coal assets in Indonesia. The Navratna coal firm, which had so far been slow in acquiring coal properties in Indonesia compared with other nations like Australia and Mozambique, is now keen on expediting the process.

“The process has been somewhat slow compared with other nations. We want to expedite the acquisition process in Indonesia,” a company source told Business Standard. The coal major is yet to zero on any particular mine, but is focused on buying stakes in thermal coal assets in that country.

It was only recently that CIL had also stepped up efforts to acquire coal assets in Australia. A delegation comprising coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya and other top officials of the coal ministry is on a visit to Australia to secure coal assets there.

The coal major is open to acquiring both operational and virgin coal mines in Australia. CIL could either pick up stakes in Australian mining companies or carry out joint mining operations with them.

CIL had also called for Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from global mining firms in July this year for entering into a strategic business partnership. Over 100 global mining firms had evinced interest in the proposed partnership.

The company had lined up an investment of $1-1.5 billion for acquisition of overseas coal assets. Earlier in March, CIL was awarded two exploratory coal blocks in Tete province of Mozambique, having an estimated reserve of one billion tonnes. While the exploration of these two coal blocks spread over 224 sq km was set to commence within a few months, the mining activities were expected to begin after three years.