The company, which operates eight deep mines, several open cast mines and significant land assets, said the offer was highly preliminary and that it was received a number of weeks ago.
The coal producer revealed the mystery approach in a letter to the London Stock Exchange, in which it also revealed that requests to the bidding party over the clarification of certain issues had been unanswered.
Any interested group would have to have deep pockets and the stomach to take on significant and rising debts as UK Coal recently revealed that its finances had spiraled from GBP1.2 million in the red in 2003 to GBP51.6 million in the red in 2004.
Industry onlookers are unsure of the seriousness of the offer and have speculated that the bidding party might well be a property development company interested in UK Coal’s land and just testing the water.
However, the speculation has helped the energy company’s share price, as it was up by 8% to 136.5p, valuing the company at GBP200 million, in response to the news.
