Medco bids for fertilizer firm in Aceh

Two investors including Medco and a company from China are competing to purchase PT Asean Aceh Fertilizer (AAF), whose production activities have been suspended since the past couple of years due to the lack of supply in gas raw materials, Bisnis Indonesia reported Thursday.

Paul Poli, a member of the AAF liquidation team had passed through the qualification for the tender process. The winning bidder will be announced on Aug. 18.

Paul said that state-owned fertilizer company PT Petrokimia Gresik did not join the bid. A senior government official had previously said that a state-owned company was interested to acquire AAF.

PT Medco Energi Internasional Hilmi Panigoro declined to provide comments, saying that he has yet to follow the tender process, as he has been overseas.

AAF used to produce urea and liquid ammonium. It was jointly established by the countries of ASEAN region. Indonesia has 60 percent stake through PT Pupuk Sriwijaya, Malaysia 13 percent through Petronas, the Philippines 13 percent through National Fertilizer Corporation, Thailand 13 percent through Ministry of Finance and Singapore 1 percent through Themasek Holding Pte Ltd.

During their shareholders meeting in September 2005, AAF owners had agreed on the liquidation of the company. (*)