Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words property+statement. 2 news.

UK Coal Plc, Britain's largest supplier of the fuel, advanced the most in more than seven years in London trading after it received an approach for its mining and power generation assets. Austria's Meinl International Power Ltd asked for a meeting with UK Coal or its advisers next year, the Sunday Times said, citing a letter Meinl sent to the mining company. Discussions aren't expected, Doncaster, England-based UK Coal said yesterday in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service, according to Bloomberg News. It didn't identify who made the approach. The shares jumped as much as 23 percent. "There's a lot of value to be had from the mining business and I'm not certain an offer would reflect that potential," Charles Kernot, an analyst at Seymour Pierce in London, said in an interview. "UK Coal has looked into splitting the property and mining businesses and concluded that it's not in the best interests of shareholders." Coal prices have risen to

UK house prices fell the most in three years in December and the threat of more declines may cause the property market to seize up in 2008, Hometrack Ltd said. The average cost of a home in England and Wales slipped for a third month, dropping 0.3 percent to 175,200 pounds ($347,877), the London-based research group said yesterday. The number of property transactions will fall 17 percent and prices will rise just one percent next year, Hometrack forecast. Bank of England policy makers said this month that a drop in house prices seemed "more pronounced" than expected as they cut their benchmark interest rate for the first time in two years. Record debt, higher mortgage costs and the property market's worst performance since 1995 have discouraged homebuyers. "The second half of the year has seen a major reversal in confidence," Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said in a statement. "Just as the financial markets have faced a liquidity