Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN, AAUKY) has walked away from a potential counter bid for Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal Ltd. (MCC.AU), deciding the price was ultimately too high, people familiar with the matter said.

Macarthur recently backed a sweetened bid from Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) and ArcelorMittal (MT), which values the coal miner at 4.83 billion Australian dollars (US$5.09 billion).

Anglo American has signaled interest in acquiring coal assets over the past year. In addition to weighing a bid for Macarthur, it considered purchasing the Colombian coal assets of privately owned U.S.-based Drummond Co. Anglo American also decided this year to retain rather than sell its Canada-based Peace River Coal Ltd. venture, a company which operates a joint venture with a unit of Walter Energy Inc. (WLT, WLT.T) in Canada.

Anglo declined to comment on whether it was eyeing a counter bid for Macarthur.

Macarthur is the world's largest producer of pulverized coking coal, a low-cost variety of coal used in steel making, by volume. Peabody has made numerous bids for Macarthur over the last 18 months.

(Alex MacDonald contributed to this report.)

-By Cynthia Koons and Alison Tudor; Dow Jones Newswires; +61-2-8272-4691; cynthia.koons@dowjones.com

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