CIL seeks govt nod to buy unlisted entity of listed firm

State-owned Coal India (CIL) today said it had sought approval from the Coal Ministry to buy an unlisted entity of a listed overseas firm.

"We have already written to the government on certain issues and have asked for its permission to buy an unlisted entity of a listed company. Once we hear from the government on the issue we will take a call," CIL Chairman and Managing Director NC Jha told reporters.

CIL awaiting government's response on certain issues pertaining to its plan of picking up a 15% stake in US-based firm Peabody Energy's mining project in Australia.

Both the companies are mulling a joint venture company to implement the project at Peabody-owned Wilkie Creek coal mine, in Queensland, Australia.

The US-based firm is likely to hold 85% in the JV, sources said.

The proposal had come up for discussion at the CIL board meeting last month, wherein it was decided to refer the proposal to the ministry for certain clarifications.

"The Coal Ministry had earlier said that acquisition of the property in the overseas market will be confined to listed companies...," said an official at the ministry.

However, since the proposed company would not be listed, the board had decided to refer the proposal to the government seeking clarifications whether CIL can go ahead with the deal if the principal (Peabody) is listed, he added.

CIL had said it was likely to buy up to a 15% stake in Peabody Energy Corp's Australian assets in early 2011-12 for an estimated $100 million (about Rs 450 crore).

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private sector coal company, with sales of 246 million tonne in 2010. The company claims to have 9 billion tonnes of reserves and manages and owns interest in 28 mining operations in the US and Australia.