Centennial's 86% interest in Austral was targeted by Xstrata Coal after announcing it would buy Centennial's Anvil Hill Mine in September this year and planned on adding Austral Coal's Tahmoor mine to its portfolio soon after.

 

The $A479 million takeover deal has been endorsed by Centennial directors, who announced they intend to accept the offer in the continued absence of a better deal emerging.

 

Earlier this week Centennial finalised its sale of Anvil Hill in a transaction exceeding $425 million.

 

It intends to use the money from both deals to pay off debt and invest in capital management initiatives.