LONDON, April 23, 2026, 15:51 BST
Anglo American plc has drawn at least three bidders for its Australian steelmaking coal business, which supplies coal used in blast furnaces, reviving a sale that unraveled when Peabody Energy abandoned a $3.78 billion deal last year. Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Stanmore Resources, Mitsubishi Corp and Indonesia’s PT Buma Internasional Grup are among the parties still in the running.
The renewed interest matters because Anglo is trying to shed lower-priority businesses and emerge as a more copper-heavy miner. In February, the company told investors it was still advancing the coal sale, the agreed nickel disposal and the separation of De Beers as part of a wider shift toward copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients ahead of its merger with Teck Resources.
That copper tilt looks better timed now. Teck on Thursday posted a first-quarter profit beat on record copper sales and said its tie-up with Anglo remained on track, while Anglo has said it expects final regulatory approvals between September 2026 and March 2027.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the sale process is being run by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and that a buyer could emerge in the coming months. Anglo declined to comment, while Stanmore and Mitsubishi declined to comment and Buma did not respond, Bloomberg said; Reuters reported that the bidders had not immediately replied to its requests.
The revived process follows a bruising setback. Peabody walked away in August 2025 after an underground fire at Moranbah North and cited a material adverse change, a deal clause that can let a buyer try to renegotiate or quit after a major negative event; Anglo disputed that view, said it would seek damages through arbitration and argued the mine and equipment had not suffered material damage.
Chief executive Duncan Wanblad said after the Peabody collapse that Anglo was “very disappointed” but still believed another buyer could be found because the mines had already attracted strong interest. In February he said Anglo was “committed to seeing our portfolio changes through to their conclusion,” adding that net debt had fallen to $8.6 billion from $10.6 billion and that the planned Anglo-Teck group would give shareholders more than 70% exposure to copper. Reuters
But the sale is not risk-free. Operational trouble has shadowed the Queensland mines for nearly two years, and Jefferies said after an earlier fire at Grosvenor that the incident could hurt both timing and valuation; the broker estimated Grosvenor accounted for about 30% of the value it assigned to Anglo’s steelmaking coal business.
Anglo’s overhaul began after it rejected BHP’s takeover approach in 2024 and moved to sell coal and nickel, separate De Beers and spin off platinum. A coal deal would remove one of the biggest remaining loose ends in that plan, even as the company keeps working through its dispute with Peabody.
