Takeover battles rarely invoke Shakespeare, interloping Americans on Gulfstream jets and rotting Kangaroo, but that is the reaction Peabody Energy of the US got this week to its A$3.6bn ($3.3bn) bid for Macarthur Coal.
Colourful language aside, Peabody's bid underscores the global appetite for Australian coal, just as the country's iron ore and liquefied natural gas sectors are booming from China-fuelled demand.
Australia is already the world's top coal exporter and its industry is dominated by global heavyweights, led by BHP Billiton, Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Anglo American. But the combined might of that quartet cannot get coal to the ports quick enough.
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