Griffin to seek bids for Australia power plant: Sources
Administrators for Australia's Griffin Coal expect to seek bids in March for a power plant worth around USD 1.2 billion, in a deal expected to attract interest from bidders in Australia, Asia and the United States, sources said Thursday.
January 27, 2011 / 16:38 IST
Administrators for Australia's Griffin Coal expect to seek bids in March for a power plant worth around USD 1.2 billion, in a deal expected to attract interest from bidders in Australia, Asia and the United States, sources said Thursday.
The auction of Griffin's Bluewaters power project in Western Australia follows the USD 800 million-plus sale of the company's coal mines to Indian sponsor Lanco Infratech, expected to be completed at the end of February, the sources said.Administrator Korda Mentha tried to sell the power plant last year but put the effort on hold after interested bidders expressed reluctance to bid until they knew who would be buying the coal operations.The process is likely to resume in March shortly after the coal deal is finalised, three sources familiar with the matter said. The sources could not be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media about the matter."There is a process part way through. So when we say restarting that process, it is not going all the way back to the start and there are some parties that are pretty advanced there," one source said.Privately-owned Griffin Coal supplies coal to fuel the power plant, owned by its subsidiary Griffin Energy.Bidding interest is expected to come from Australian, US and Asian bidders, two sources said. Interested parties were likely to include existing investors in thermal coal projects in Australia.While the power station is a long-life asset with attractive coal supply contracts, it is highly geared.It is secured under a A$1.015 billion (USD 1 billion) project loan arranged by Australia and New Zealand Group, National Australia Bank, Societe Generale and WestLB, according to data from Thomson Reuters LPC.Macquarie Capital Advisers, the investment banking unit of Macquarie Group and UBS are the financial advisers for the sale.Griffin has been in administration with debt of around A$700 million ($699 million) after missing a A$25 million payment to bond investors in December 2009.Korda Mentha is also negotiating the sale of a small 80MW Emu Downs wind farm, jointly owned by Griffin and Queensland government-owned Stanwell Corporation, with a list of shortlisted parties, the first source added.Bidders include Infigen Energy Ltd with Japanese renewable firm Eurus Energy, and Sumitomo Corp, according to local media reports. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
