Lanco Infra buys Australian coal mines

The deal, as per media reports in Australia is valued at about 850 million Australian dollar.

"Lanco Infratech...through its step down Australian subsidiary, Lanco Resources Australia, has concluded a binding agreement with Griffin Energy Group ad Carpenter Mine to purchase 100 per cent shares of Griffin Coal Mining Company and Carpenter Mine...," the company said in a statement.

Griffin coal in Western Australia, owns the largest operational thermal coal mines there. The assets, as per media reports had attracted bidders from India, Australia and China.
Western Australia-based Griffin Coal owns thermal coal mines with a production of more than 4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which can be ramped up to more than 15 MTPA in the near term.

"The mine currently produces over 4 MTPA of coal and can be ramped up to over 15 MTPA in the near term,post development of evacuation infrastructure. The mining tenements contain over 1.1 billion tonnes of... thermal coal resources," it said.

Terming the deal as strategic for raw material security to company's domestic projects, Lanco Infratech CFO Suresh Kumar said, "The mine would provide raw material for domestic projects to take power generation capacity to 15,000 MW by 2015 from existing 2,100 MW."

The mines at present export about 1 MTPA of coal to China and India and Lanco after acquisition, would in due course, export the surplus production left after domestic consumption, Kumar said.

"We are committed to expanding Griffin Coal's export capacity.... We are excited about the future prospects for both Griffin Coal and all its stakeholders," he added.

The mine is strategically located on the western coast of Australia, hence closer to India compared to the mines in the New South Wales and Queensland areas of Australia.

Lanco Infratech has subsidiaries and divisions across verticals like Construction, Power, EPC, Infrastructure and Property Development.

At present, while its power portfolio includes an operating capacity of about 2,100 MW, the construction and EPC division of the company is executing various orders worth more than Rs 25,400 crore. The company is developing 163 Kms of National Highways on BOT basis.

Shares of Lanco Infratech closed at Rs 61.30 on BSE, up by 0.49 per cent from the previous close.