Temasek sells Senoko Power to Marubeni-led group
for S$3.65b
By Ng Baoying, Channel
NewsAsia | Posted: 05 September 2008 1654 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings has
sold its Senoko Power generating company to Lion Power
Holdings for S$3.65 billion.
Lion Power is a vehicle owned by a consortium led by
Japan's Marubeni Corporation. Other members of the consortium are
GDF Suez of France, The Kansai Electric Power Company, Kyushu
Electric Power Company and Japan Bank for International
Cooperation.
Lion Power will assume S$323 million of net debt of Senoko Power
as at March 31. The transaction is expected to be completed by
September 12.
The deal falls in line with
Marubeni's plans to expand overseas and double its power capacity
in two years. It has already bought power assets in the Philippines
and is building plants in the Middle East and
Indonesia.
The bidding process for Senoko began in July and is the second
of Temasek's three power generation companies to be sold.
The first, Tuas Power, was sold
to China's Huaneng Group in March for S$4.2
billion.
With the latest
deal, only Power Seraya remains within Temasek's stable. Temasek
said last year that it intends to divest all of its wholly-owned
power generation companies in Singapore by the end of next
year.
Unlike power-hungry countries like China and India, the growth
in demand for energy in Singapore is limited. But Senoko Power's
sale still attracted a lot of interest.
Temasek said Lion Power's bid was the most attractive in terms
of price and commercial terms.
Analysts said Temasek is taking advantage of a lack of
privatisation deals in Asia's power industry, having held back
divestment plans in recent years.
Still, Senoko Power was sold off about 25 per cent cheaper than
Tuas Power on a per mega-watt basis.
Senoko is the largest power generation company in Singapore and
provides over 30 per cent of the nation's electricity needs.
- CNA/ir