Waratah blooms

All eyes will be on Canadian-listed Waratah Coal when it makes its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday - even though the Queensland coal hopeful will not be raising any cash as part of the compliance listing.

Waratah is subject to a hostile cash takeover bid from Mineralogy, of the Queensland entrepreneur Clive Palmer. On Friday it told shareholders it is seeking out rival bidders.

With help from Merrill Lynch in Canada it has entered confidentiality agreements with "a number of interested parties". Waratah wants to develop a 25-million-tonne-a-year thermal coal mining operation in the Galilee Basin, which would require a new railway and port and would cost more than $5 billion.

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