JSW Steel on Monday announced the acquisition of up to 66.67% in the Australian mining company M Res NSW through its wholly owned subsidiary JSW Steel (Netherlands) B.V. This is seen as a bid by the steel major to secure the raw material required to support its ambitious expansion plans.
“…we hereby inform you that the Board of Directors of JSW Steel at its meeting held on August 12, 2024 has approved the acquisition of an economic interest of up to 66.67% in M Res NSW HCC Pty Ltd ("M Res NSW") by way of subscription to non-voting Class B shares, for an investment of US$ 120 million through the Company's' wholly owned subsidiary JSW Steel (Netherlands) B.V,” said JSW Steel in an exchange filing.
The steel company stated that raw material security and cost optimisation remain a key strategic priority for them and this acquisition is a step forward in achieving those objectives.
The terms of the investment require JSW Steel to further invest US $50 million in M Res NSW to fund its obligation towards the deferred consideration payable in 2030.
The fresh acquisition by the billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led company comes months after its board approving the acquisition of Minas de Revuboe Limitada (MDR), which owns a pre-development stage premium hard coking coal mine project in the Moatize Basin of Tete Province in Mozambique. Given that JSW Steel has a target of achieving a steelmaking capacity of 50 mt by 2030, it has been aggressively securing its raw materials, especially the important coking coal.
M Res NSW is owned by Matthew Latimore, the owner of M Resources Pty Ltd ("M Resources"), an international mining, investment, marketing and trading company, with headquarters in Australia.
M Res NSW owns a 30% interest in Golden M NSW Pty Ltd, the proposed ultimate owner of Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd, whose operations consist of the Appin and Dendrobium coking coal mines and associated infrastructure in New South Wales, Australia.
These mines have total marketable reserves of 99 million tons of prime hard coking coal and have produced an average 6.5 mtpa in the past five years. The remaining 70% interest in Golden M is held by Golden Investments (Australia) III Pte Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Golden Energy and Resources Pte Ltd.