MEC appoints investment banker

Middle East Coal (MEC) has appointed Indian financial services provider ENAM Securities as its investment banker to advice on partnerships and investments with Independent Power Producers (IPP) in India, news service PTI reported on Tuesday.

MEC is a Singapore-based company with subsidiaries in Indonesia and invests in and manages large-scale coal and related infrastructure projects in Indonesia.

The company's executive vice-chairman Madhu Koneru said in a statement that "we see India as a key market for coal as the country continues to address its power requirements".

"MEC would like to be a part of the Indian growth story rather than just a supplier of coal," Koneru aded.

MEC has decided to adopt a partnership strategy for India wherein it is interested in working with IPPs by providing long-term assurance supply of coal from its mines in Indonesia.

MEC's initiatives come at a time when Indian power producers are scouting globally to secure coal mines and have been facing problems in verifying the exact reserves as most assets are in remote provinces.

The high demand for coal and strong prices has affected supplies as miners in Australia, South Africa and Indonesia have insisted on price-escalation clauses, the statement said.

In order to ensure an uninterrupted flow of coal from the mines, MEC is setting in place the required infrastructure and develop a coal jetty and a rail-link of 130-kilometres to off-load coal from mines to the market, the statement said.(*)