James McCulloughDecember 04, 2007 12:00amCOAL king Ken Talbot...

James McCullough

December 04, 2007 12:00am

COAL king Ken Talbot has spent $70 million to acquire almost 5 per cent of Riversdale Mining as part of his ambition to build a global mining investment portfolio.

Mr Talbot paid $9.30 a share in a recent placement to acquire 7.5 million shares in Riversdale as part of a $235 million capital raising taken up predominantly by Australasian, European and North American institutional clients of Hartleys and RBC Capital Markets.

The funds raised will mainly be used for the development of the Benga licence and further exploration of other tenements in the Moatize Basin in Mozambique.

"We think it is a very good investment and it is part of our strategy of getting in on the ground floor of junior and medium-sized explorers," Mr Talbot said.

The share price of Riversdale has leapt from a low of $1.79 in the past year to close yesterday up 43c at $10.33.

The latest move comes as Mr Talbot, the former CEO of Macarthur Coal who remains a director of the group with a personal stake of just under 30 per cent, has amassed a considerable mining portfolio around the globe.

The total worth of the portfolio is now more than $700 million, the key investments being his Macarthur Coal stake, Sundance Resources, Karoon and now Riversdale.

Mr Talbot has a 19.9 per cent stake in Sundance, a West Australian-based iron ore company.

He bought into Sundance for about 12c a share and the price yesterday closed up 1c at 50.5c.

He also acquired 18.2 million shares in Karoon Gas, or 13.8 per cent, for about $2.30 a share and the stock closed yesterday down 5c at $3.40.

One of the main funding mechanisms for his recent buying has been the sale of his Talbot Hotel Group, which raised $130 million.

"I had a holiday and I came back and said to my staff, 'We are selling the pubs', " Mr Talbot said.

"They were a bit shocked, but I believed there was greater opportunity in the resources sector and to date it has worked well for us."