Shearman & Sterling and Mochtar Karuwin Komar have advised PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI) as the builder and operator of the $4.3 billion Batang coal power project in Indonesia.
The Shearman & Sterling team on the deal was led by partner Bill McCormack and included partners Ben Shorten and Etienne Gelencsér.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro have advised the lenders of the deal, including the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which is contributing just over $2 billion of the $3.4 billion loan. The Milbank team was led by Singapore-based project finance partner James Murray
Nine other banks are involved as lenders, the majority of whom are Japanese. BPI is a a joint venture set up by Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy Tbk and Japan's Itochu Corp and Electric Power Development Co (J-Power).
The 2,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Central Java has been touted as Indonesia’s first ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant, and one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Asia. However, it has faced a number of challenges, not the least of which has been years of delay; financial close of the loan, for example, was delayed by two months.
Indonesia's Supreme Court had earlier thrown out a landholders' lawsuit on technical grounds, paving the way for the government to take over the remaining land for the project. Construction was meant to begin in 2012, but has been repeatedly delayed as dozens of landowners refused to give up their paddy fields for the power plant.
