Indonesia: PLN postpones global bond issuance over rupiah depreciation

• May 24, 2018

State-owned electricity company PLN has said it will postpone its plan to issue global bonds, initially set to be carried out this month, because of the rupiah’s depreciation against the US dollar.

However, PLN spokesman I Made Suprateka said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the company would go ahead with its preparation to obtain the low-cost financing, including holding roadshow activities in a number of countries.

He said PLN had held roadshows in three cities – New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“It has not finished yet. We got the largest order in New York yesterday because the rupiah exchange rate is very low,” Made said as reported by kontan.co.id.

Made was reluctant to mention the targeted amount of funds to be collected from the global bond issuance, which would be used to develop power plants with a capacity of 10,000 megawatts (MW), part of a mega project to develop power plants with a combined total capacity of 35,000 MW.

“We are seeking low-cost financing to develop power plants with a total capacity of 10,000 MW,” Made said, adding that the cost of funds from bond issuance would be far cheaper than if the power plants were procured through independent power producer (IPP) schemes, including third parties.

He did not mention the time of the global bond issuance, but it would not be carried out this month, saying that the cost would be high because the rupiah exchange rate was too low.

“If we issue the global bonds now, the repayment will be too high,” Made added. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/05/23/pln-postpones-global-bond-issuance-over-rupiah-depreciation.html