Aneka Tambang, Bukit Asam eye KPC stake

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's due diligence team has accepted the proposals from state-owned mining companies PT Aneka Tambang Tbk and PT Bukit Asam to buy a stake in the coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC).

However, in the first phase of selection process, the team rejected the proposal from state-owned electricity company PT PLN, which also wants the stake to secure coal supplies for its power plants.

Djoko Darmono, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the due diligence team rejected PLN's proposal because unlike Bukit Asam and Aneka Tambang, the power firm was inexperienced in mining business.

Bukit Asam has a large coal concession in South Sumatra, while Aneka Tambang, which holds dozens of concessions across the country, produces various kinds of mining products, including gold, nickel and iron sand.

Djoko, who is also a member of the due diligence team, said the team had asked both Bukit Asam and Aneka Tambang to soon submit their bidding prices for the KPC stake.

Under its contract, East Kalimantan-based KPC, which is jointly-owned by Anglo Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and Anglo American energy firm BP PLC, has to sell its 51 percent stake to Indonesia this year.

The East Kalimantan provincial and East Kutai regency administrations have tried for years to acquire the 51 percent stake but the central government recently decided to keep a 20 percent stake and divide the remaining 31 percent stake equally among the province and the regency.

The 51 percent stake is valued at US$419 million.

The decision has disappointed the East Kutai and East Kalimantan administrations.

The government then put the 20 percent stake into auction, which attracted three bidders, that is Bukit Asam, Aneka Tambang and PLN.

The government has also formed a due diligence team comprising officials from the central government and the East Kutai and East Kalimantan administrations to select investors who are interested in buying the stake allocated to the central government, province and regency.

But, Djoko said, the regency and province had thus refused to take part in the diligence team.

Also, no other companies have submitted proposals to buy the province and regency's stake, according to Djoko.