Macarthur Coal announced that plans for Hong Kong based Noble Group to sell its stake in the Queensland based Middlemount coal mine to its joint venture partner Macarthur Coal have been terminated with immediate effect.

The deal was tied to a plan for Noble to sell its 87% stake in New South Wales-based coal miner Gloucester Coal to Macarthur, in exchange for a 24% stake in Macarthur. Noble's shareholders rejected that bid on Monday.

Macarthur said it will seek to continue discussions with Noble and Gloucester to assess potential alternative transactions that may be strategically valuable to Macarthur shareholders.

Macarthur is itself the target of a AUD 4.07 billion offer by Peabody Energy Corp. It said on Friday it had entered talks with the US company after two of its three largest shareholders signaled qualified support for the takeover.

POSCO and ArcelorMittal have both signaled support for the Peabody offer, although Citic Resources Holdings said on Monday it didn't have enough information yet.

The decision leaves a door open for Macarthur and Noble to restart discussions under different terms.

(Sourced from Todayonline.com)