Meet BHP’s $5b coal auction’s under-the-radar Japanese kingmakers

According to The Australian Financial Review, bidders in the $US3.5 billion-plus ($5.2 billion) auction for BHP’s Queensland coal mines – Blackwater and Daunia – are competing to woo five Japanese commodities houses to join their camps.
Sources told Street Talk that the commodities players – some of the biggest names in the sector – are in high demand ahead of binding bids in early August. The sales process is being run by Macquarie Capital.
The Japanese firms being targeted by suitors include steelmakers JFE and Nippon Steel, and trading houses Marubeni and Sojitz. A fifth, Itochu, is understood to be working with Whitehaven Coal.

https://www.afr.com/street-talk/meet-bhp-s-5b-coal-auction-s-under-the-radar-japanese-kingmakers-20230724-p5dqw2