Kangaroo Resources Says Essar Makes Bid for Indonesian Energy Coal Mine

Essar Group, controlled by Indian billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, is among the bidders for a coal mine in Indonesia, said Kangaroo Resources Ltd.

Essar is one of the “interested parties” to bid for Kangaroo’s GPK thermal coal project in East Kalimantan province, Jerko Zuvela, the Perth-based company’s chief geologist, said by phone today. Kangaroo expects to complete a sale in the next few weeks, said Zuvela, who is part of the company’s senior management.

Essar, looking overseas to lock in fuel for its Indian power plants and U.S. steelmaking operations, in March said it bought West Virginia-based Trinity Coal Corp. Kangaroo in July hired Macquarie Group Ltd. to help manage a possible sale of GPK.krl

Kangaroo rose 8 percent to 13.4 cents at the 4:10 p.m. Sydney time close on the Australian stock exchange.

“We keep looking at growth opportunities in the businesses that we are in,” Essar said in an e-mailed statement. “It is not our policy to comment on any specific proposal.”

The GPK mine, 84.82 percent owned by Kangaroo, has a total thermal coal resource of 248 million metric tons, according to the company’s website. First coal sales were made this year.

Essar in March also agreed to buy the Aries coal mines in East Kalimantan to secure supplies for its power plants.

To contact the reporters on this story: Elisabeth Behrmann at Ebehrmann1@bloomberg.net; Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net

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