Nathan Tinkler’s proposed tilt at Whitehaven Coal – which took the market by surprise last week leading up to the Greek election over the weekend – came after he successfully merged his Aston and Boardwalk Resources with Whitehaven Coal in a $5.1 billion deal.

“The potential takeover highlights the continuation of consolidation within the space and at a time where equity markets are weak but longer-term demand by end users is still apparent,” Foster Stockbroking said in a research note.

“Over $25 billion in deals have been secured across the coal sector in Australia over the last 18 months resulting in many of the large-cap ASX-listed coal companies disappearing off the boards.”

Included in the list is the $4.9 billion takeover of Macarthur Coal by Peabody Energy and the $3.9 billion takeover of Riversdale by Rio Tinto.

Thai group Banpu Energy took over Centennial Coal for $2.5 billion and Rio Tinto moved to full ownership of Coal and Allied Industries for $1.5 billion.

On the merger front, apart from the Whitehaven-Aston-Boardwalk merger, Chinese group Yanzhou Coal’s Yancoal Australia subsidiary engineered an $8 billion reverse takeover of Gloucester Coal.

The escalating European debt crisis and a softening of thermal and coking coal prices have seen more than 70% wiped off the value of some of the leading coal producing and development companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange over the past six months.

It compares with the All Ordinaries, which fell about 10% for the same period.

Bandanna Energy, Acacia Coal and Guildford Coal head a list of smaller coal mine developers which are expected to benefit from an industry consolidation, according to Foster.