ABM Investama plans to acquire coal-fired power plant

PT ABM Investama Tbk (ABM) plans to acquire a coal-fired power plant near its coal mine location to enable the company to take the advantage from its coal production, Investor Daily reported on Saturday.

Finance Director Willy Adipradhana said in Jakarta on Friday that the company preferred to acquire a coal-fired power plant which has begun operation than building its own power plant. By acquiring a coal-fired power plant, the company could avoid the long process of construction and pre-construction works.

?We are interested in operating a power plant so that we can secure more sustainable income,? Willy said. He however refused to disclose the owner of the power plant targetted by the company.

At present, through its subsidiary PT Sumberdaya Sewatama, ABM owns a 70 percent stake in indepedent power producer PT Energi Alamraya Semesta (EAS). ABM also has two coal mine concessions, one in South Kalimantan and another one in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

This year, ABM expects to produce 4 million tons, nearly double from 2.1 million tons last year. The company expects to further increase coal production to 5.8 million tons in 2013. A 4.5 million tons of the total are expected to come from the South Kalimantan mine and the other 1.3 million tons from Aceh.(*)