Tad’s Corner (formerly Alpha Coal) and Kevin’s Corner, are located adjacent to each other in the Galilee basin in Queensland, Australia with combined thermal coal reserves of an estimated 7.6 billion tons. Both are part of Hancock Coal, owned by Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, which started prospecting in the region in the 1970s. Rinehart calls the reserves which have low sulphur and ash content, the “jewel in the crown” of the Galilee Basin.
India’s GVK Group, the Hyderabad-headquartered infrastructure major owned and chaired by G.V.Krishna Reddy is among the top bidders for the assets which could sell for $1-1.5 billion. The other top bidder is also an Indian company, JSW Steel, a company run by Sajjan Jindal whose mother Savitri Jindal chairs the O.P.Jindal Group and is India’s fifth richest person with a $13.2 billion fortune.
According to Forbes magazine, GVK has been scouting for Australian coal assets for a while. Last year, it was one of the bidders for Australia’s ailing miner Griffin Coal, but lost out to Indian rival Lanco Infratech, controlled by L.Madhusudan Rao.
What this means:
Corporate India, will continue its hunt for resources and assets across Australia, Africa, Latin America, Russia and even the developed economies, being assured of domestic profits and contracts. As in my previous post, public sectors companies such as Coal India Limited and ONGC will also participate in their own way. Along the way these entities will continue to bump against Chinese competitors with similar intentions.
