Private equity's push into the Australian coal sector has continued as Denham Capital takes control of some of Peabody Energy's best undeveloped acreage and hints it may buy more of the struggling coal miner's Australian business. 
Peabody sold the tenements in Queensland's Bowen Basin to little-known Pembroke Resources, which was only registered as a company in Australia in   April, 2014.
Denham is behind Pembroke, and the move comes after fellow resources-focused fund manager Taurus Funds Management bought Anglo American's Foxleigh coal mine last month.
The coking coal tenements were sold for $104 million and included royalty streams.
Some of the tenements, such as Olive Downs, were previously held by Macarthur Coal, which was bought by Peabody for close to $US5 billion in 2012.
Several former Macarthur Coal team members are working for Pembroke, including exploration director Attila Kovago.
Pembroke is led by former Gloucester Coal managing director Barry Tudor.
It was under Mr Tudor's leadership that Gloucester Coal was taken over by Yancoal for $US2 billion in 2012. However, Mr Tudor declined to discuss the purchase on Tuesday.
In a statement, Pembroke hinted that more coal acquisitions could be made, and the company was now shaping up as a likely buyer of some of Peabody's developed coal mines in Queensland.
"Pembroke will continue to assess other acquisition and development opportunities as it seeks to further build out its portfolio of high-quality metallurgical coal assets," the company said in a statement.
Aside from Pembroke, Denham has scores of subsidiaries that target different types of natural resources, particularly energy.
The sale continues a recent trend that has seen large multinational miners sell Australian coal assets to companies that are not traditional miners.
The Australian coal sector is increasingly typified by small, entrepreneurial operators, many of which are private companies that are trying to turn around the mines that the majors could not make profitable amid weak coal prices.
But while many of the company names are new, those behind them are some of the Australian coal industry's biggest names, as Mr Tudor's involvement in Pembroke suggests. Edek Choros, who delivered Millennium Coal into the hands of Excel Coal (later taken over by Peabody) is back on the scene with Batchfire Resources, which agreed to buy Anglo American's Callide mine in   January.