The Hindu Business Line : Knowledge Infra to acquire 50% stake in Indonesian coalmine

Knowledge Infrastructure Systems Pvt Ltd, a privately-held coal trading company, will be acquiring 50 per cent stake in an Indonesian coalmine by December.

The company will be able to supply 9 million tonnes of coal per annum post-February 2008 and has right to mine 40 mt of coal.

The mine is located in east Kalimantan, Indonesia’s second largest province. In the same province Tata Power Company (TPC) also has major mining interest. In March, TPC had signed a $1.1-billion (Rs 4,950 crore) deal to buy 30 per cent stake in two Indonesian coalmine companies.

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Knowledge Infrastructure has been in business for over five years and has a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore. Its annual coal trading volume is 4 mt.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Rahul Bhandare, Managing Director, said that the current stake could be up scaled to 25 mt in a few years depending on market conditions. “We are not only looking at exporting coal to India but also to China, Japan and other Asian countries,” he said.

Mr Bhandare said that the company has already in place long-term coal supply contracts with Athena Power Projects for supplying 4 mt per annum of coal for its 1,200-MW project and for supply of 2 mt of coal to OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd, Chennai. Another contract is currently under negotiations for supplying 4 mt of coal to another power plant, he said.

Mr Bhandare said that the company has also tied up with MSTC Ltd, a PSU, for developing imported coal business. Jointly, the companies are developing business models, which will involve supplying imported coal to Indian collieries, he said.

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