Chase closes financing for Poiton
JAKARTA (JP): Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. of the United States announced yesterday that the syndication has closed for the financing of two coal-fired power units with a combined generation capacity of 1,230 megawatts in Paiton, East Java.
The two units developed by PT Paiton Energy Company, a consortium partly owned by the Bimantara Group, is one of the largest independent power projects in the world, costing approximately US$2.5 billion, with US$1.82 billion of debt financing required.
"Syndication closed on June 23 and was oversubscribed by more than 100 percent," P.D. Fyke, managing director and regional executive for Chase's Global Power and Project Finance Group said in a statement made available here yesterday.
He said Paiton represents the market model for private sector power project development and is the largest project financing in Asia.
He said the unique structure of this $2.5 billion financing consists of a multi-tranche structure including the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Export-Import Bank of Japan, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and commercial banks.
The final chapter in the initial financing for the Paiton project is still being formulated to execute the planned capital market issue, for which Chase Global Markets is acting as co- manager, he said.
Chase acted as financial advisor for three years to a consortium consisting of Mission Energy Company of the United States, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan, General Electric Capital Corporation of the United States and PT Batu Hitam Perkasa of Indonesia on the development and financing of the two other power units in Paiton. Chase advised the consortium with respect to the development and the negotiation of the power purchase agreement (executed in February 1994), the development and negotiation of all the key project documents and the development and execution of an integrated funding strategy.
The State Electricity Company (PLN) has been operating two coal-fired power units at Paiton, each with a generation capacity of 400 megawatts. (31)