L&L said the Chinese sales company lacked the resources to expand and recognized the US company’s unique China-focused platform and infrastructure.

GuangYeh which has historical annual coal sales of 68,000 tons to various Yunnan province steel factories has rolled its entire business, sales orders, customer base and staff into L&L’s Tai Fung subsidiary in Kunming.

The owner of GuangYeh has joined the L&L sales team and the GuangYeh’s coal wholesale licence will be sold. Under the terms of the agreement, GuangYeh's former owner and staff can receive a performance bonus when sales and profit reach a predetermined target.

The acquired operation is expected to grow 250% to 180,000 tons in the first year.

“The acquisition of a sales-focused company such as GuangYeh is an effective way to expand our business,” L&L chairman Dickson Lee said.

“The transaction bolsters our coal sales and logistical personal and is in line with our growth plan. As a part of strategy to expand our sales and distribution business, we intend to acquire other coal sales companies, bringing in additional sales and profits to our operations.”