Intraco Penta plans to enter coal mining

By Hisky Darmayana

PT Intraco Penta, a distributor of heavy equipment, plans to enter coal mining business by acquiring a number of coal mine concessions in East Kalimantan, the company?s senior executive said.

?We will assess several mine concessions in East Kalimantan for acquisition. However, we are still monitoring the movement of coal price which has dropped sharply this month as this will become important consideration for acquisition,? said Petrus Halim, President Director of the company.

Petrus said that some of the coal concessions which were currently being assessed for acquisition were green fields and some others have begun production. But he did not unveil the owners of the concessions.

?We have years of experiences as distributor of heavy equipment, and as coal mining contractor. Now we want to do the mining,? he added.

Intraco Penta operates as a distributor of heavy equipment mostly sold to mining firms, and as mining contractor through its subsidiaries. This year, the company plans to expand into coal mining through its subsidiary PT Intra Resources.

Meanwhile, Intraco has also secured US$ 251,4 million loan from Bank Mandiri to be used in the company?s business expansion plan and for heavy equipment purchase.

Editing by Adianto P. Simamora