ICVL not to bid for Riversdale Mining

According to a Wall Street Journal report, International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) had yesterday said it won't bid for Riversdale Mining Ltd, paving the way for Rio Tinto PLC take over the Australian coal mining company.

"We discussed all the factors, like the pricing scenario, resource availability and the competing offer and then the board [of the consortium] took a conscious decision not to bid," CS Verma, chairman of Steel Authority of India Ltd told reporters after a meeting of the consortium.

The consortium, ICVL, was incorporated in 2009 as a joint venture between Steel Authority of India Ltd, NTPC Ltd, NMDC Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Coal India Ltd for the acquisition of overseas assets.

With the decision of ICVL not to bid, Rio Tinto is now the only bidder for Riversdale, the report said.

Mining giant Rio Tinto had put in a bid for $3.8 billion, which the Riversdale board had recommended to shareholders.

Tata Steel with a 24 per cent stake is at present the biggest shareholder in Riversdale, which has 13 billion MT in coking and thermal coal reserves in its Benga and Zambeze projects in Mozambique in southern Africa.
 
ICVL's decision not to bid for Riversdale was by no means unexpected as the consortium has so far not been able to acquire any overseas coal asset.