Tanjung Jati B sold to Sumitomo

Tanjung Jati B sold to Sumitomo

HONG KONG: Hopewell Holdings Ltd. said on Friday it sold its stalled Indonesian power project to Japan's Sumitomo Corp. for US$306.2 million.

Hopewell, a Hong Kong-based infrastructure company, owns 80 percent of the 1,200-Megawatt Tanjung Jati B project in Java, and Indonesia's PT Impa Energi owns the rest.

Hopewell will receive about $215 million of the sale price, PT Impa Energi will get about $53 million, and $38 million will be used to pay outstanding contractors' bills for the project.

Hopewell will apply its share of the sale proceeds to general working capital but "will consider seeking other investment opportunities," the company said in a legal notice.

The Tanjung Jati project began in 1997 with Hopewell as developer and Sumitomo as constructor, according to Global Power report.

Hopewell made a HK$4.82 billion provision in 1998 for investments in the Tanjung Jati B Power Station after the Asian financial crisis forced Indonesia to pull the plug on the project.

The company's Friday statement said Hopewell has no intention to participate in Indonesian power projects after the Tanjung Jati sale. -- Dow Jones