Anglo advances coal business sale after setback with Peabody

Anglo American Plc has at least three potential buyers for its Australian steelmaking coal business after a sale to Peabody Energy Corp was derailed last year following a fire at one of the mines.

Stanmore Resources, Mitsubishi Corp, and PT Buma Internasional Grup are among the bidders for the coal assets, and a suitor and deal could be announced in the coming months, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale process is being run by Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley, they added, asking not to be named, discussing private information.

Anglo, Stanmore, and Mitsubishi declined to comment, while Buma Internasional didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Peabody walked away from a $3.8 billion pact to buy Anglo’s steelmaking coal business last year after a fire at the Moranbah North mine, an asset that the US producer said made up about half of the deal’s value. The collapse of the sale dealt a blow to Anglo, which was seeking to simplify and shrink its business as it fended off a takeover approach from BHP Group.

That blaze followed a separate fire in 2024 at Anglo’s Grosvenor mine, its second-largest metallurgical project in Australia and part of the Peabody deal. Moranbah North has restarted production, but Grosvenor remains offline. All the assets are in Queensland state on the country’s east coast.

For the new suitors, a successful deal will either cement or elevate the winning bidder into one of the world’s biggest suppliers of coal used to fuel steel mills across Asia. The market is currently dominated by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture, known as BMA, and London-listed Glencore Plc.

One of the bidders, Buma Internasional, has some familiarity with the assets. The Indonesian company had agreed to buy a 51% stake in the Dawson project from Peabody after the conclusion of the deal with Anglo.

Sydney-listed Stanmore Resources is backed by its biggest shareholder, Golden Energy and Resources Pte — owned by Indonesia’s billionaire Widjaja family — which is directly involved in the bidding process through the Australian firm, said the people. Stanmore’s market capitalisation is less than A$2 billion ($1.43 billion), so the deal value could be bigger than its current valuation.

Golden Energy and Resources didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Anglo has already spun off its platinum business and is looking for a buyer for its struggling De Deers diamond division. A sale of its coal assets would help as the London-listed miner works through its takeover of Canada’s Teck Resources.

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