In its quest for coking coal assets, government-owned Coal India Ltd is looking at acquiring a mine in Australia and will soon appoint a merchant banker to handle the transaction. The PSU board, which will meet here on June 19, will finalise the terms of the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT).
Currently, CIL is not able to met the entire demand for coking coal from local steel makers from its own mines and resorts to imports.
A CIL official told FE: “We are considering two options: taking over a mine entirely or picking up equity stake in an asset with off-take rights. So far, we have not zeroed in on any asset. It is after the appointment of a merchant banker, the entire financial due diligence would be done. Technical feasibility study and financial viability will be seen before the company takes the final call.”
