China Shenhua eyes Rio coal unit stake - report

HONG KONG, Jan 12 (Reuters) - China Shenhua Energy (1088.HK) (601088.SS), China's biggest coal miner, plans to bid for a key stake in the coal unit of Rio Tinto, the South China Morning Post said on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Rio (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) is looking for bidders for its 76 percent stake in Australia's Coal & Allied Industries (CNA.AX), which runs three operations in New South Wales, it said. The unit is worth about $3.72 billion, the paper said.

China Shenhua is also pushing Rio Tinto for more assets to be included in the sale, it said.

Other likely bidders such as Mitsubishi of Japan and Swiss-based Xstrata (XTA.L) also want Rio Tinto to also sell assets in Queensland, it said.

Rio's Queensland assets include the Blair Athol, Hail Creek and Kestrel mines, it said.

(Reporting by Jun Ebias; Editing by Keiron Henderson)