Peabody Still Struggling To Get Hands On Macarthur

Australia's Macarthur Coal, the world's largest maker of pulverized coal for steel production, continues to urge its shareholders to take no action on a $5.2 billion takeover from Peabody Energy

and ArcelorMittal

, calling the offer “opportunistic” due to a murky regulatory environment in Australia. Peabody, the largest U.S. coal producer, and ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, formed a joint venture to acquire Macarhtur after Missouri-based Peabody failed in a $3.4 billion bid for Macrthur last year. ArcelorMittal owns 24% of the Aussie coal producer, making it the second-largest shareholder in the company. Macarthur makes for an attractive acquisition target not only because coal for steel production has seen demand surge, but also because of Australia's proximity to China and India where that coal is most in demand. Macarthur maintains that it has held talks with other suitors, but has declined to identify any of those companies and no offer other than Peabody's has been made public. Last month, Australian press reports said Rio Tinto

and Yanzhou Coal

, China's fourth-largest coal company, could be interested in Macarthur, but no sources were cited in that speculation.