MUMBAI Dec 14 （Reuters） - International Coal Ventures, a consortium of five Indian state-run companies including Steel Authority of India and Coal India , may bid for Australia's Riversdale Mining , the Business Standard reported.
Other companies planning a bid for the Australian firm as part of the consortium are iron ore miner NMDC , power producer NTPC and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the newspaper said on Tuesday.
Riversdale had no immediate comment on the report.
Miner Rio Tinto made a $3.5 billion bid approach for Africa-focused Riversdale Mining earlier this month, setting up a potential takeover battle, but told Riversdale it was not in a position to make a bid.
"Bidding for Riversdale is beyond our personal capacity and authorised limits," the Business Standard quoted Rana Som, chairman of NMDC, as saying.
"Hence, we have referred the proposition to ICVL," he said, referring to the International Coal Ventures. "It is a good project with sizeable reserves, but has a few negatives like logistics cost too."
Steel Authority Chairman C.S. Verma told the newspaper that a proposal had been placed with International Coal Ventures.
Officials at the state-run companies could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.
Steelmaker ArcelorMittal , Xstrata Plc , Arcelor and Anglo American are also expected to take a look at Riversdale, according to sources familiar with the company, although no formal bids or approaches have been received so far.
Riversdale's shareholder base remains the main obstacle to a successful takeover, sources said.
Private-sector Tata Steel is one of the major shareholders in Riversdale, owning about 24 percent in the company. Other major shareholders include Brazilian steelmaker CSN and U.S. investment firm Passport Capital.
It was safe to assume Rio Tinto was talking to Riversdale's major shareholders such as Tata about a joint bid although nothing has been formalised, they said.
（Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne）
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