New World Resources (NWR), Central Europe’s leading hard coal and coke producer, has received approval from the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka (Bogdanka). Combined hard coal production will be over 16 Mt/y.

The offer requires no further regulatory approvals. The transaction is consistent with NWR’s strategy to maintain its market leading position in the Central European region by actively pursuing growth opportunities in Poland and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe and is another step in realising NWR’s vision set out at the time of the IPO to become a regional consolidator.

NWR says the combination of NWR and Bogdanka “will create a regional champion, with an enhanced reserve base, product and geographical diversification and a strong regional identity.”

NWR produces quality coking and thermal coal for the steel and energy sectors in Central Europe through its subsidiary OKD, the largest hard coal mining company in the Czech Republic. NWR’s coke subsidiary, OKK Koksovny, (OKK), is Europe’s largest producer of foundry coke. The company had 407 Mt of reserves as at 1 January 2010.

Bogdanka, incorporated in Poland and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, is one of the largest hard coal miners in Poland and one of the leaders in the domestic market for thermal coal producers. Bogdanka is one of the most cost-effective bituminous-coal mines in the country and in the Central European region. In 2009, it produced 5.2 Mt of coal representing about 7% of Poland’s total coal output and some 11% of the market share in coal supply to power plants in Poland.