Arcelor raises stake in Macarthur coa

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) said on Sunday it has increased its stake in Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd (MCC.AX) to 19.9 percent by buying shares from another stakeholder as part of a strategy to safeguard its raw materials supply.

In May, Arcelor paid $604 million (302 million pounds) for a 14.9 percent stake in Macarthur Coal, but talks with Macarthur to increase this further earlier this month ended without a deal.

The world's biggest steelmaker said the additional 5 percent stake was obtained from Talbot Group Holdings and amounted to 10.6 million shares at A$20 per share.

This brings ArcelorMittal's investment in Macarthur Coal to A$843 million, ArcelorMittal said in a statement.

The latest deal is subject to approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board.

"The acquisition of this holding is in line with ArcelorMittal's strategy of securing its supply of raw materials, in this case through the acquisition of a stake in a leading supplier of low volatile pulverized coal injection (PCI) coal," the Luxembourg-headquartered company said.

Analysts have said there had been high expectations Arcelor would make a full takeover offer for Macarthur, which helped push its shares to successive record highs in past weeks.

Soaring coal prices, driven by tight supply and voracious demand from China and India, have put Australia's mining sector in play amid a global resources grab.

(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Maureen Bavdek)