Coal news and updates

Glencore, the debt-laden mining and commodity trading house, is considering the sale of its coal haulage business in Australia as it moves to further reduce debt.

The company hopes to receive about $1bn for the Hunter Valley rail business, which hauls coal from its mines in New South Wales to port on the country’s east coast, writes David Sheppard and Neil Hume.

The coal haulage business contains nine trains and a contract to ship about 40 million tonnes of coal annually, said the Australian Financial Review, which first reported the planned sale on Wednesday. It said Glencore hopes to have finalised a sale by the end of the third quarter.

Glencore said this month that it is targeting up to $5bn in asset disposals in 2016 as part of a bumper debt reduction plan it launched in September, after concerns about its leverage contributed to a sharp drop in its share price.

The company was the second worst performer on the FTSE 100 last year but has seen its shares rally so far in 2016, gaining almost 65 per cent.

Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore’s chief executive, said at the start of the month the miner-cum-trader had “learnt lessons” during 2015 after reporting a $5bn net loss for the year.

The company aims to have reduced its net debt from $25.9bn last September to between $17bn and $18bn by the end of this year, and to $15bn in 2017.

 

Financial Times