Coal India, which was in talks with the Indonesia-based Sinar Mas Group for acquiring a stake in PT Golden Energy Mines, will have to refrain from making its final bid because it is yet to receive the signal from the coal and the finance ministry.
Though Coal India was shortlisted for bidding, two officials familiar with the development indicated that the go ahead is not likely to come soon, and therefore it cannot submit the final bid for the property.
Nevertheless, the Sinar Mas Group has extended the deadline for submitting bids to August 2011, from June. However, Coal India officials said even the extended deadline will not help.
Sinar Mas is selling about 30-40% stake in PT Golden Energy Mines to strategic investors, and subsequently plans to list the coal company in Jakarta. It is in negotiations with several strategic investors.
"We had asked the ministry for some clarifications and a final go ahead on bidding for Golden Energy Mines. The coal ministry is yet to get back to us. We cannot bid as long as we have not received the go ahead," a senior Coal India official said on condition of anonymity.
According to reports, Sinar Mas extended its deadline because one of the shortlisted bidders, Tata Power Co, decided to withdraw from the race because of increasingly competitive bidding. Bids for the stake had crossed $500 million.
The coal ministry had asked Coal India to acquire stakes only in overseas companies that are listed. Coal India had received a couple of proposals from overseas companies which offered stakes in coal bearing assets.
The board of directors of Coal India subsequently sought a clarification from the coal ministry on whether it could acquire stakes in specific assets, since these assets are not listed. This clarification is pending with the coal ministry for the past couple of months. Golden Energy Mines is an unlisted company hence the clarification is required.
Golden Energy Mines holds three coal blocks, with combined reserves of more than one billion tons, mostly from its block at Kalimantan, in the Indonesian part of Borneo. It also has two blocks in Sumatra, in northern Indonesia.
No comments:
Post a Comment