Hyderabad: State-owned National Mineral Development Corp. Ltd (NMDC) and International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) are looking to buy coal mines overseas, taking advantage of falling valuations due to a global meltdown.
Opportune: Right time to buy assets, says steel secretary P.K. Rastogi. Bharath Sai / Mint
“ICVL is talking to coal companies in Australia, Mozambique, Canada, the US and couple of countries and is likely to firm up deals shortly,” steel secretary P.K. Rastogi said on the sidelines of a seminar.
ICVL is a venture of Steel Authority of India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, NMDC, NTPC Ltd and Coal India Ltd.
“Slowdown in international coal sector has come as an opportunity for the Indian steel sector and we should now go ahead to acquire coal mines overseas to address the cooking coal requirements of steel industry,” Rastogi said.
NMDC is also negotiating to buy coal mines abroad, its chairman and managing director Rana Som said. “We have got offers from coal mines in South Africa and Siera Leone. We are going aggressive on acquiring overseas coal mines for the last two months and expect to seal the deal shortly, may be in the next two-three months.”
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Steel manufacturer JSW Steel Ltd is also in advanced talks to acquire coking coal assets in Australia, vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal said. “Prices of coking coal assets have come down significantly and this is the right time to invest in expansion and acquire new assets,” he said.
Newswire18 contributed to this story.
c.sukumar@livemint.com