Xstrata’s $2.85 a share bid is an 85 per cent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price, the firm said. Xstrata Coal currently has a relevant interest of 15.56 per cent in Resource Pacific shares after entering into a cooperation agreement with Marubeni Corporation, Resource Pacific’s largest shareholder.

The Mallesons team, including partners Nick Pappas, Tim Bednall and Tony Bancroft, senior associate Robert Gibson and solicitor Luke Green, handled all aspects of the off-market bid and drafting of the cooperation agreement between Xstrata Coal and Marubeni Corporation.

This deal follows another Mallesons worked on with Xstrata last month, being one of the largest deals Mallesons had worked on with their mining client since its launch into the Australian resources market five years ago. Last month, the company completed a $3.1 billion agreed takeover of resource company Jubilee Mines.