Norton Rose and King & Wood Mallesons have starred in the creation of a Canadian metallurgical coal joint venture in Western Canada. JX Nippon Oil & Energy (Australia) Ltd (JX Australia), a subsidiary of JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp and its listed parent JX Holdings Inc (JX), paid $435 million in cash to acquire a 25 percent interest in Xstrata Coal’s British Columbian (XCBC) metallurgical assets. The joint venture is located in the Peace River Coalfields.
Xstrata’s assets include tenements - acquired from First Coal Corp (First Coal) - of over 100,000 hectares of contiguous coal licenses and applications, the Lossan coal deposit and the Sukunka coal deposit, which was acquired on March 14 from Talisman Energy Inc. The latter acquisition was completed at the same time JX Australia purchased the 25 percent interest.
Xstrata Coal retained a 75 percent stake in XCBC and will develop, operate and manage the assets on behalf of the joint venture. JX, with its 25 percent stake in XCBC through JX Australia, will be the exclusive marketing agent for First Coal and Sukunka coal sold into Japan.
The global Norton Rose team was led by Tokyo-based partner Michael Joyce. He was supported by Calgary-based partner Crae Garrett, and Syndey-based partner Adrian Ahern, whose teams provided advice on Canadian and Australian law aspects respectively. Legal advisers to Xstrata Coal were Bennett Jones and King & Wood Mallesons, as to Canadian and Australian law aspects, respectively.
“We are delighted to have had the opportunity to advise on this significant investment for JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation. The transaction involves complex legal and regulatory issues across the various jurisdictions. We are proud to have an integrated cross border team based in Tokyo, Calgary and Sydney with the specialist skills necessary to execute deals of this nature,” said Joyce about the deal in a statement. ALB
Candice Mak is North Asia Editor at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.
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