Recapital may divest 20% of Berau Energy shares

PT Recaptal Advisor may divest 20 percent of the company?s ownership in PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk. which made its successful debut on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) on Thursday.

Recapital?s president director Rosan Perkasa Roeslani said in Jakarta on Thursday that the company expected to book about US$500 million from the sales of the 20 percent stake in Berau Energy.

He said as quoted by Kontan daily at least four companies from China, India, South Korea and the United States had expressed their interest to buy the shares.

In the initial public offering (IPO), Berau Energy sold about 10 percent of the company?s enlarged shares at Rp 400 per share. The total proceeds from the IPO are estimated to reach about US$150 million.

Recapital, the majority shareholder, took over 90 percent of Berau Energy shares from Armadian Tritunggal and Rognar Holding for about $1.5 billion. To finance the acquisition, the company borrowed about $580 million from Ibrahim Risjad family, and $165 million from Bumi Resources. Berau Energy also issued bonds worth $580 million to help finance the acquisition.

Rosan said that the cash to be raised from the sales of the 20 percent stake in Berau Energy would be used to repay the $580 million bonds which would mature in December, 2010.

PT Berau Coal Energy is the parent company of East Kalimantan coal miner PT Berau Coal. The company targeted to produce 17.9 million tons of coal this year, increased from 14.5 million tons in 2009 and it has planned to boost its output to 30 million tons per annum in 2014. (*)