Tata Power on Thursday said it has acquired a 26% stake in Indonesian coal miner PT Baramulti Suksessarana Tbk (BSSR), aiming to bolster supplies amid a severe domestic fuel shortage. The company did not disclose the terms of the deal.
At Thursday?s closing price, Tata Power?s stake in Baramulti, which started trading on Wednesday in Jakarta, is valued at 1.32 trillion rupiah ($137 million).
BSSR, along with its unit PT Antang Gunung Meratus (AGM), owns about 1 billion tonnes of coal resources in Indonesia. The company had earlier signed a long-term coal supply deal with AGM. Tata Power also won the option to buy 26% in Kalimantan-based miner BSSR through its unit Khopoli Investments while signing the coal deal in July.
Tata Power has been scouting for overseas coal mines, particularly in Indonesia and South Africa, as state-run Coal India struggles to increase output. The company currently sources coal from four mines in Indonesia and two in Australia.
Tata Power holds 30% equity stakes in two companies owned by Indonesia?s Bumi Resources: PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and PT Arutmin Indonesia(AI). It had bought into these two in 2007 in a deal estimated at $1.1 billion to procure coal for its Mundra power plant. Bumi Plc holds 29% in PT Bumi, which in turn owns a 65% stake in KPC and a 70% stake in Arutmin.
Tata Power, which is seeking a higher tariff for its Mundra plant to pass on increased fuel costs, has a current power generation capacity of 6,900 MW.
The imported coal is used to run its plants, including its 1,580 MW Trombay and 4,000 MW ultra mega power project in Mundra, Gujarat. Tata Power has been hit by high import costs on coal after the Indonesian government changed rules that made exporting the fuel costlier.
On Tuesday, Tata Power reported a consolidated net loss of R83.80 crore as it took a R250-crore hit on an impairment charge for its unit, Coastal Gujarat Power, the special purpose vehicle for its Mundra plant. A consortium comprising Tata Power, Origin Energy and PT Supraco is also developing a 240 MW geothermal project in Indonesia.
