McCullough Robertson advised Whitehaven Coal Limited (Whitehaven) on its recent acquisition of a 100% interest in the Winchester South Coal Project, in two separate transactions, for consideration of $340 million.

Winchester South was a development project in Rio Tinto’s portfolio of Queensland metallurgical coal assets which it recently sold. Whitehaven initially acquired a 75% interest in the project from Rio Tinto Limited in early June 2018 and acquired the remaining 25% interest from Scentre Limited in a separate transaction shortly thereafter.

Whitehaven is Australia’s largest independent coal producer which has developed a strong portfolio of coal assets in New South Wales, with this acquisition being one of the company’s first significant investments into the resources industry in Queensland.

McCullough Robertson provided end to end advice on the two transactions, covering due diligence and acquisition documentation through to completion, supported by a large multi-disciplinary team led by partner Damien Clarke.

These lead partners utilised legal specialists across the firm covering commercial, approvals, construction, litigation, intellectual property, tax and employment relations groups.

This acquisition demonstrated the firm’s market-leading expertise in the Queensland coal sector built off a long history of acting for project proponents and investors (both foreign and domestic).