Antam needs $230m to finance expansion
Plans rights issue
Wednesday, April 21 2010 - 02:16 AM WIB
Antam?s president director Alwin Syah Loebis said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the CGA plant would be built in West Kalimantan with a total investment of about US$400 million.
He said that Antam which will have a 65 percent stake in the CGA project would need to contribute about US$260 million for the construction of the plant. ?About 30 percent of the required funds will be obtained from internal sources, and the other 70 percent will be from external sources,? he said. ?It means we need to raise at least US$182 million from external sources for the CGA project,? he added.
Besides the CGA project, Antam will also build a 2 x 75-MW coal-fired power plant in Pomalaa, South Sulawesi this year to meet its electricity needs. ?The construction of the power plant will cost about $300 million,? he said, adding that the company would need to raise at least $50 million from external sources to partly finance the power plant project.
Alwin said that the company might do rights issue as one of the options to raise funds for the expansion plans. ?But we can also raise bank loans as another option to obtain the funds for the project,? he added.
Currently, the Indonesian government holds 65 percent shares of Antam with the remaining 35 percent held by private investors.
Antam and its Chinese partner Hangzou Jinjiang Group also planed to develop smelter-grade alumina project in Mempawah, West Kalimantan.
Antam is also doing a feasibility study on and looking for partners for the development of a smelter in East Halmahera, North Maluku to process nickel ore from its mines there into ferronickel. The smelter is designed with a capacity of 27,000 tons Ni per year with a total investment of US$1.2 billion. (godang)