State hardens pursuit of Queensland Rail sale

Brisbane (Energy Publishing) - As the coal industry in Queensland works on an off-market bid for state-owned railway coal business, the state government has hardened its stance with the naming of a high-powered team to run its planned public float of the railway.

The government has named Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs JB Were, Merrill Lynch, RBS Morgans and UBS to run the float of its A$6.4B QR National rail business, tipped to be the major local float of 2010.

The Labor state administration says it will hold up to 40% of the new listed company, QR National, in the short term.

But despite public mudslinging by government members - in one case a cabinet minister claiming that coal companies are bludging on the state - a group of some 14 coal producers is pushing ahead with plans to present a formal pre-float bid, of at least several billions dollars, for the state's coal rail business.

They want the coal business split off - a move the state now has rejected repeatedly.