As of yesterday, Banpu had reached 61.56% of acceptances for its $6.20 per share takeover bid of Centennial, and this fully approved offer is running until October 5 unless further extended.

Banpu chief executive Chanin Vongkusolkit indicated during a visit to Sydney that more was on the cards.

“After about two years of studying Australia we see that it has good potential in coal and that should be a good fit to our strategy,” he told The Australian.

"Externally we are quite positive in coal demand in the future, both locally in Australia and internationally, led by Asian countries.

"Internally, we have low debt and we were looking for new investments."

Banpu Australia was established last year to invest in coal mining and power generation businesses.

The Thai company said this included exploration, obtaining concessions, mining contractor and power plant operations, as well as coal and power trading in Australia.

Banpu aims to export at least 40 million tonnes per annum in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2015.

The company holds a total of $US2.6 billion in cash reserves and credit facility finance to fund the Centennial takeover.