Aussie Ordeal
Peabody's Late Recovery
A disastrous bet on exporting Australian coal to Asia is finally paying off.
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It's often said that the art of the takeover lies not in the deals you do, but the ones you pass over. There are few more telling proofs of this maxim than the 2011 acquisition of Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd.
The deal was conceived as a joint bid by steelmaker ArcelorMittal and U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. Lakshmi Mittal bailed midway through, attracting a degree of mockery in some quarters.