JSW Steel Ltd. is looking to form a consortium to bid for a majority stake in Teck Resources Ltd.’s steelmaking coal business, people with knowledge of the matter said, potentially rivalling an $8 billion offer from commodities giant Glencore Plc.
Mumbai-based JSW is seeking partners for an offer to acquire a 75% interest in the asset, known as Elk Valley Resources Ltd., the people said. That’s a marked shift in approach from July, when Bloomberg News reported JSW was interested in up to 20% of Teck’s coal business.
A deal could value the coal business at more than $8 billion and JSW has been sounding out banks about financing for a potential offer, according to the people. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty an agreement will be reached, they said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Representatives for JSW and Teck declined to comment.
Any JSW consortium could yet face competition for the coal asset from Glencore, which in June proposed buying the business for about $8 billion as an alternative to a full takeover of Vancouver-based Teck.
Around that time, Teck said it had received a number of indications of interest in its coal operations, without naming the parties. Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. had agreed to take a stake in a spun-off Elk Valley Resources in February before Teck dropped the plan to split its coal and metals businesses after failing to muster shareholder support.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Price, Teck remains under pressure to design a plan that can trump both its unsuccessful split proposal and a potential full takeover by Glencore.
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Earlier this month, Glencore underlined its continued interest in a deal with Teck by holding back $2 billion for a potential purchase of the Canadian miner’s coal business — cash it would otherwise have returned to shareholders. For Glencore, a deal would present a way to exit the hugely profitable but polluting thermal coal business by combining it in a new company with Teck’s steelmaking coal operations.
--With assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel, Heesu Lee, Shoko Oda and Swansy Afonso.
(Adds detail on Glencore interest in final paragraph.)
Author: Vinicy Chan, Dinesh Nair and Baiju Kalesh
