Kideco to complete divestment program by mid-May

East Kalimantan-based coalminer PT Kideco Jaya Agung is expected to complete its divestment program by the middle of this month, a government source told Petromindo.Com Saturday.

?The government and Kideco are close to agree on the basis price for the remaining 7 percent shares,? said the source. The source, however, declined to reveal the company?s price range.

Kideco?s coal contract of work obliges it to gradually divest 51 percent of its shares to Indonesian investors. In 2001, the company had divested 10 percent shares to two Indonesian investors.

Last year it planned to divest another 34 percent stake at an agreed basis price that 100 percent of the company is valued at US$367.7 million. But the sale of this stake is still in progress.

This month, the company will sell another 7 percent stake after the basis price for the sale has been agreed.

The company would go ahead with its divestment plan although East Kalimantan provincial administration had asked a local court to stop the divestment program, the source said.

Kideco produces around 11 million tons of coal annually from its coalmine in East Kalimantan?s Pasir Regency. (godang)