Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (May 9): YTL Power International Bhd will jointly undertake the oil shale-fired power plant and mine project at Attarat um Ghudran in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with China's Yudean Group.

YTL Power said in a statement today it has entered into equity agreements with its partners for the US$2.1 billion (RM8.42 billion) 554MW oil shale-fired power plant project that is being developed by Attarat Power Co (APCO).

APCO's existing shareholders, comprising YTL Power, Estonian energy company Eesti Energia AS and Near East Investment Co (NEI), signed the agreement today to introduce a new shareholder, Yudean Group, to the project.

Eesti Energia will then trim its stake in Attarat to 10%, while NEI will exit the project.

Following the completion of the share transfers, which is subject to achieving full financial close, APCO will be indirectly owned by YTL Power (45%), Yudean (45%) and Eesti Energia (10%).

YTL Power executive director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong said the company welcomes Yudean as its partner in jointly leading the development of the milestone project to support the Jordanian government in furthering its policy of energy independence.

"The 554MW oil shale-fired power plant will cover a substantial portion of Jordan's energy needs and reduce the kingdom's import of oil products for power generation.

"The sponsors' combined extensive experience in power generation and mining will drive this project to fruition, beginning a process for Jordan to achieve cost effective and reliable energy independence," he said in the statement.

Earlier this year, APCO signed agreements with the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to provide debt funding for the project.

The US$1.6 billion debt financing will be provided on the basis of support by China Export & Credit Insurance Corp (Sinosure).

"The sponsors are in the midst of fulfilling a number of conditions precedent to full financial close, including receiving final approvals for the export credit insurance from Sinosure and the government of China.

"The power plant is scheduled to start generating electricity for local consumption in 2019," read YTL Power's statement.

At 2.36pm, YTL Power shares were trading unchanged at RM1.47, after seeing some 908,200 shares done, for a market capitalisation of RM11.42 billion.

 

      Print
      Text Size
      Share