Australian Government's latest FIRB ruling allows Yancoal to retain ownership
13 December 2013
Two weeks after rejecting Archer Daniels Midland's proposed takeover of Graincorp, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has allowed China's Yanzhou Coal Mining to maintain its current ownership stake in Yancoal Australia.
The decision frees Yanzhou of a 2009 requirement to sell down its stake in the company, a condition imposed by its foreign investment approval to buy Felix Resources and Gloucester Coal, and has opened the door to the miner taking full control of Yancoal in the future.
This will be the first time that a Chinese state owned enterprise has been allowed full control of a major asset in the Australian coal sector.
The approval reinforces the view that the new Australian Government is assessing applications case by case, and that current industry conditions will play a large role in the assessment of future applications.
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