EGCO to sell its coal mining early next year
Tuesday, November 28 2000 - 07:00 PM WIB
In a bid to offload non-core businesses, Thai's Electricity Generating Company (EGCO, has announced a plan to sell its subsidiary, EGCO Mining, which is engaged in surveying and developing coal sources in Indonesia, early next year.
Sitiporn Pattanopas, managing director of EGCO, said the company will focus solely on electricity-related business and that once the assessment of EGCO Mining's total assets is completed at the end of November, the bidding process, expected to take about two months, will start.
He said a contract, signed with existing local investors who hold a concessionary right to coal sources in the south of Kalimantan island, requires that interested buyers must purchase the whole of EGCO Mining.
Current major shareholders of EGCO Mining include: EGCO, 70 percent; Siam Cement Trading, 10 percent; Enerco Corporatikon, 10 percent; AED Holding, 5 percent; JB Energy, 2.5 percent; and SCF Finance & Securities, 2.5 percent.
Sittiporn said so far, several investors whose business is in coal mining, such as Banpu, have expressed their interest in buying EGCO Mining.
EGCO Mining was registered in 1996 to survey and develop coal mining in the southern part of Kalimantan island. It has registered capital of 200 million baht.
In 1999, the company, in collaboration with Montan Consulting of Germany, surveyed an area in the middle of its concessionary field and found a 400-million-tonne deposit of low-sulphur coal, suitable for use in electricity, cement and other industrial plants.
The survey findings also indicated that if proper and long-term markets are found for the discovered coal products, investment in this project would be very rewarding. (*)