Beijing approves Australian miner acquisition

Chinese regulators have approved Yanzhou Coal's A$3.5 billion (US$3.2 billion) takeover of miner Felix, the country's biggest Australian acquisition yet, the Chinese company said. China's National Development and Reform Commission issued an approval letter on Thursday, Yanzhou Coal said in a Friday-dated statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Australian government approved the deal in October.

Beijing's approval follows months of wrangling, two re-submissions to Canberra and a series of failed Chinese moves for Australian miners, including Rio Tinto's refusal of a multi-billion U.S. dollar investment from Chinalco.

Yanzhou will operate the Australian mines through an Australia-based company to be listed on Sydney's stock exchange by the end of 2012, and would market the coal “at arms-length”, Australian Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry said in October.

Yanzhou will also have to slash its ownership of Felix's four coal mines to 50 percent and cut its stake in the new firm to 70 percent by the time of the listing.

Felix produces about 4.8 million metric tons of coal a year, just a fraction of Australia's total of nearly 250 million.

In June, mining giant Rio walked away from a 19.5 billion U.S. dollar cash injection from Chinalco.

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