Renaissance Capital seeks $1.6 billion loan to buy Bumi
Friday, May 26 2006 - 12:11 AM WIB
Investment company PT Renaissance Capital is seeking US$1.6 billion in term loans to help buy coal mines from Bumi Resources, the country's biggest listed miner, according to the company president Samin Tan as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.
The debt instrument, dubbed "senior secured amortising term loan senior facilities", will comprise a 5-year $1 billion term loan and a 6-year $600 million term loan, the document said.
The Singapore branch of Credit Suisse is acting as mandated lead arranger and sole bookrunner for the senior facilities.
Bumi is selling the coal mines, among Indonesia's largest, to an international investor group led by Renaissance for about $3.2 billion.
The purchase comes amid surging world coal prices, due in part to booming demand from Japan and China. Indonesia is the world's second biggest coal exporter after Australia.
Other members of the consortium have not yet been officially identified, but sources have said that they are Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. and top Australian engineering contractor Leighton Holdings Ltd.
The source close to the deal told Reuters Renaissance was in talks with Marubeni and Leighton to jointly provide the $1 billion equity financing needed for the acquisition to be closed by the end of next month.
But, he said, Renaissance will turn to financial investors for bridge financing if it fails to find strategic partners.
Bumi would use the sale proceeds to build a coal liquefaction plant and to produce biodiesel from crops.
The coal assets sold by Bumi are a 100 percent stake in PT Arutmin Indonesia and a 95 percent stake in PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC). (*)