On January 10, Cuesta announced it had snared a legally binding conditional subscription agreement with the Chinese company.

Cuesta shareholders approved the subscription at its extraordinary general meeting on February 2.

As well as receiving shareholder approval, the investment also received Financial Investment Review Board and regulatory approvals, while satisfactory due diligence was also completed.

The $5 million pre-initial public offering investment was completed at 25c per share, with the funds received by Cuesta.

The $15 million investment under the second stage of the investment agreement will be completed under Cuesta Coal’s upcoming IPO.

Cuesta Coal managing director Matthew Crawford said the first stage of the investment gave the company the funding to maintain its exploration program in the lead-up to its IPO.

“We have worked closely and cooperatively with Beijing Guoli on this transaction and look forward to a longer term successful partnership as we develop our current exploration success into a significant coal resource project and ultimately a producing mine,” Crawford said.

Cuesta formed in September last year to acquire the available securities of Queensland coal exploration company Blackwood Coal in preparation for a public listing.

Cuesta’s tenements are located in Queensland’s coal bearing regions of the Surat, Bowen and Galilee basins.

Its focal tenements include West Bowen, East Wandoan and Eastern Galilee.

Cuesta said it was on track to secure a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange by next month.

The company appointed Austock Securities as lead manager for the IPO.