Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright advised PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) (PLN) on the financing of its MW184 Arun and MW155 Bangkanai gas fired power plants in Aceh and Central Kalimantan respectively. The facilities are landmark export credit agency (ECA) transactions in South East Asia and are PLN’s first international bank financings that are not guaranteed by the Indonesian Ministry of Finance.

PLN is the Indonesian state electricity company and the two power plants will supply electricity to over 150,000 homes. The Arun power plant will be powered by liquefied natural gas and will be the largest gas engine based peaking power plant in Indonesia. The Bangkanai plant is a 155 MW gas engine based plant and will produce electricity for the Kalimantan grid.

The €160 million export credit financings were arranged by Standard Chartered Bank; Finnvera, the Finnish ECA owned by the State of Finland, issued guarantees to cover the debt.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised PLN on numerous transactions over many years, including all the international financings for PLN’s MW10,000 ‘fast track’ coal fired projects and the development of the MW2000 Central Java independent power project.

Jeff Smith, Head of South East Asia, Norton Rose Fulbright, commented:

“This innovative transaction marks PLN’s first bank debt financing not covered by an Indonesian government guarantee. We are pleased to have continued our well established relationship with PLN, especially for gas fired power which is much needed in Indonesia.”

The team was led by Jeff Smith, supported by banking partner Nick Merritt and senior associate Pooja Balani in Singapore. Allen & Overy advised the lenders.