Arindo Global to raise $600m to finance Adaro acquisition

Arindo Global Hires Three Banks for $600 Mln Loan to Buy Adaro Paper company Global (Netherlands) BV, which bought Indonesia's largest coal mine PT Adaro Indonesia, hired three banks to arrange a US$600 million loan for the acquisition, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a press release.

DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Standard Chartered Plc and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. are inviting other banks to join the five- year loan by the end of the month, the arrangers said. The loan represents about two-thirds of the total cost.

Arindo Global, which comprises a group of investors in Asia, will use the money to buy the mine and related operating assets, including shares in PT.Indonesia Bulk Terminal, a coal-loading terminal in South Kalimantan.

Arindo will pay interest of 4 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate on the loan, which has an average life of 2.5 years.

The investors include Noonday Asset Management Asia Pte Ltd.; Kerry Coal (Singapore) Pte Ltd., a member of the Kuok Group; GIC Special Investments; the private equity firms of Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as well as Indonesian investors including Edwin Soeryadjaya, son of the founder of Indonesia's largest carmaker PT Astra International; Theodore Rachmat; Benny Subianto and Garibaldi Thohir, according to the news release.

It is not immediately clear what the money raised would be used for as last June the consortium had paid US$406 million to former owner New Hope Corporation for assets comprise of a 40.83 percent stake in South Kalimantan-based Adaro and a 50 percent stake in coal port operator PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal. (*)