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nergy company PT ABM Investama (ABMM) is seeking higher revenues from electricity generation by buying controlling stakes in two power plants in Sumatra.

One of the generators is a mine-mouth coal-fired power plant, with a 15 megawatt capacity, located in Aceh, ABMM corporate strategy director Yovie Priadi said.

Yovie said the value of power plant in Aceh was up to US$10 million.

“We will not acquire 100 percent ownership in the power plant. However, we will try to become a majority shareholder, with about 50 to 70 percent ownership,” Yovie said.

After the stock acquisition, ABMM is planning to increase the plant’s capacity to 50 megawatts.

ABMM also plans to buy a controlling share in gas-fired power plant in Jambi. The power plant is an independent power producer (IPP) project, which has a capacity of 110 megawatts.

Yovie said the Jambi power plant is worth $80 million to $90 million.

 “We are expecting to finish the acquisition of the two power plants in this second quarter,” Yovie said.

The power plants will be managed by ABMM subsidiary PT Sumberdaya Sewatama, which already has a 20 percent stake in PT Metaepsi Pejebe Power Generation (Meppogen) in South Sumatra.

According to the ABMM’s website, Sumberdaya’s power equipment includes 700 diesel-generator sets with capacities ranging from 250 to 1,820 kilovolt-ampere (kVA), five gas-generator sets with capacities of 800 megawatts, 66 pumps, 10 wave-energy pontoons and five load banks that develop electrical loads.

Sumberdaya currently holds a 42-percent share of the temporary power market. The company has supplied 934 megawatts of temporary power, mostly to meet domestic demand.

Yovie said that acquisitions in Aceh and Jambi would help the company to boost income from its power businesses. He cited that electricity business contributed about 15 percent to the company’s revenue last year.

“We want that power business will contribute up to 20 percent,” Yovie said.

Yovie said that spending for the acquisitions had been included in ABMM’s $335 million capital expenditure this year.

ABMM finance director Willy Adipradhana said that about $62 million of the company’s total capital expenditure would be channeled to mining businesses, $129 million to mining services, $73 million to power and $19 million to logistics.

Willy said that the capital expenditure would be financed by equity and bank loans.

According to its financial report, ABMM has Rp 3.02 trillion in net equity, as of the end of December 2011.

“We usually support 30 percent from our equity and the remaining 70 percent from bank loans,”
Willy said.

According to Willy, several banks — including DBS bank, ANZ, Bank Mandiri, Standard Chartered and OCBC — are ready to disburse loans for ABMM.

— JP/ Raras Cahyafitri