Brisbane, Sept. 13: Indian steel giant Bhushan is to acquire a 64 percent stake in Queensland’s Bowen Energy.

The Australian reported that Bhushan had paid 560,000 dollars to take its holding to 19.91 per cent and that the two companies had also entered into an agreement for Bhushan to subscribe to 100 million of Bowen shares for 32 million dollars.

The first 50 million share purchase, which will take Bhushan''s interest to 50.5 per cent, will be voted on at Bowen''s AGM in November.

Managing director Kevin Nichol said the remaining 50 million shares, valued at 16 million dollars, would be sought over the next 18 months and the funds paid in four tranches during that period, taking Bhushan''s final stake to around 64 per cent at the end of the process.

"It is the best option any small company in our space could have. Bhushan will control the company and the board at shareholder level, closing the door to other end users, but opening the door for other institutional investors," Nichol was quoted, as saying.

Bhushan, India''s third largest speciality steel products producer, does not need approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board because the junior player has a market cap of less than 50 million dollars.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is open to foreign interest in her state and visited the Indian steel makers this year to encourage further investment in Queensland''s minerals and exploration and mining industries.

Bhushan has just spent three billion American dollars on two new steel mills in India and in the next six months would need up to one billion dollars worth of coal to feed its mills. (ANI)