Glencore havers as Centennial wins Austral

摘要

Centennial Coal has comprehensively overcome a nasty little scare from Glencore and won the battle for control of Austral Coal. But the skirmish has opened a new front in the war for strategic advantage in. the Australian coal industry. Swiss-based Glencore is now likely to become a significant minority shareholder in the merged Centennial/Austral group, now probably the fastest-expanding coking/thermal combine in Australia. If it was any other company, this presence would go largely unremarked. But, Glencore is clearly not any other company. It has a well-deserved reputation as a deal-maker and corporate activity catalyst in the world commodities industry. Thus, these machinations have already caused furious speculation on the company's strategy in spending upwards of A30m dollars (23m dollars) on what looks like a low-leverage position. Whatever its motives though, Glencore is unlikely to just sit quietly. One industry hand put it this way: "A minority stake in Centennial isn't a bad vantage point for them (Glencore) to keep their ear to the ground and get in on the next wave of industry take overs. That's always a chance to happen in the second tier Australian companies and Centennial, with Austral, is now the biggest there by a fair margin.