By David Winning

SYDNEY--South32 Ltd. (S32.AU) said competition concerns had scuttled a US$200 million deal to buy a metallurgical coal mine in the southern coalfields of Australia's New South Wales state, together with a stake in a coal port, from Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU).

South32, the coal and metals miner spun out of BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) in 2015, agreed in November to buy Peabody's Metropolitan Colliery and an associated 17% stake in the Port Kembla Coal Terminal, located south of Sydney.

On Tuesday, South32 said the deal won't proceed following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's concerns that the proposed deal may substantially reduce competition in coal supply to Australian steelmakers.

"South32 has always maintained that metallurgical coal is a globally traded commodity," the company said in a regulatory filing. "Given this, South32 is not prepared to make significant concessions in favor of Australian steelmakers that would likely be required to mitigate the competition concerns."

Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 17, 2017 19:04 ET (23:04 GMT)

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