CITIC becomes Macarthur Coal's top shareholder

MELBOURNE, July 15 (Reuters) - China's CITIC Resources Holdings (1205.HK) has raised its stake in Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd (MCC.AX) to 20.39 percent, overtaking global steelmaker ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) as the top shareholder.

CITIC built its holding from 17.66 percent after winning approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board and Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

CITIC has been a major shareholder since Macarthur went public in 2001 and a joint-venture partner for more than 10 years.

"We look forward to CITIC's increased investment and continued support as we focus on growing the business," Macarthur Coal Chairman Keith de Lacy said in a statement on Tuesday.

Australian takeover rules require any shareholder who buys 20 percent of a company to make a full takeover offer. But CITIC is not required to do so, under a "creep provision" that allows a shareholder to raise its stake above 20 percent by buying up to 3 percent of the company every six months.

CITIC Australia Chairman Chen Zeng was not available for comment.

Takeover speculation on Macarthur died down this month after talks with ArcelorMittal, which owns 19.9 percent of Macarthur, ended without a deal and after Korea's POSCO (005490.KS) bought a a 10 percent stake, large enough to block a full takeover.

Shares in Macarthur fell 3.6 percent to A$17.20, underperforming a 0.9 percent fall in the materials index .AXMJ. When ArcelorMittal was talking to Macarthur, investors had been expecting an offer around A$20 a share. ($1=A$1.03) (Reporting by Sonali Paul, Editing by Mark Bendeich)