Antam and PLN interested in Inalum acquisition
Friday, January 20 2012 - 02:27 AM WIB
State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said on Thursday that the finance ministry through state investment company PIP would open a tender for the sale of Inalum shares after the government had completed the acquisition process of the Japanese companies? shares in Inalum.
?We will invite a number of state firms to join a tender to acquire Inalum shares. PLN and Antam have expressed their interest,? Dahlan said, adding that PLN was interested in Inalum?s hydropower plants which have a capacity of 604 megawatt.
In addition to PLN, Antam has also shown interest to acquire Inalum shares, but the company has not officially unveiled its acquisition plan.
Inalum, which operates the only aluminum smelting plant in Southeast Asia in North Sumtera, was established in 1976 under a cooperation between the Indonesian government and its Japanese consortium.
According to the agreement, the Indonesian government had the option of taking over Inalum when the contract expired in 2013. The smelter commenced operations in 1983 and produces 250,000 tons of aluminum ingots per annum.
The Indonesian government currently has a 41.12 percent stake in Inalum, while NAA, a consortium of 12 Japanese companies including Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., Sumitomo Shoji Kaisha Ltd., Mitsui Aluminium Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corporation, holds 58.88 percent.
Recently, the Japanese consortium expressed its willingness to keep its stake in the company. However, the government said it would not renew the consortium?s contract and would instead take over the consortium?s share ownership in 2013 when the contract ended. (*)