PTBA, two E. Kalimantan investors picked to buy KPC shares
Thursday, October 31 2002 - 06:53 AM WIB
The two companies from East Kalimantan were PT Melati Bhakti Satya and PT Pertambangan dan Energi Kutai Timur, which are respectively owned by the East Kalimantan provincial administration and the East Kutai regency administration, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources secretary general Djoko Dharmono said.
According to the government decision, PTBA will buy 20 percent of KPC shares, while the East Kalimantan firms will purchase the remaining 31 percent stake.
The decision on KPC shares buyers was made in a meeting of cabinet ministers under the coordinating minister for the economy.
Djoko said after the ministers? meeting that the government will facilitate the East Kalimantan firms to conduct due diligence on KPC.
?With the decision on the share buyers, the divestment of KPC shares can be fully undertaken according to existing rules and schedules,? Djoko said.
Djoko added that the share buyers and KPC are free to complete payment in the share deal according to business principles.
He did not rule out the possibility of KPC share buyers asking for share price reduction, saying that the two parties were fully free in that matter.
The government and KPC shareholders early this year agreed on US$822 million valuation of the entire shares of KPC.
KPC operates a huge coalmine in Sangatta in East Kutai, East Kalimantan.
It is equally owned by world energy and mining giants BP Plc and Rio Tinto, which, according to existing laws, are obliged to sell 51 percent of KPC shares to Indonesian parties after 10 years of commercial of operation.
Late in July, KPC formally offered 51 percent of its shares to Indonesian investors through the central government. (alex)