Coal news and updates

Nava Bharat unit achieves financial closure for $828 mn Zambia coal project

Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd, a diversified company which is into power, sugar and ferroalloys, said on Wednesday that its step-down subsidiary Maamba Collieries Ltd (MCL) has achieved financial closure for the upcoming integrated coal and power project in Zambia at an estimated cost of $828 million.
The company said the project is funded on a debt-equity ratio of 70:30.
“Large international lenders group, comprising development financial institutions from South Africa and large international commercial banks from Africa and China, have participated in this limited project finance deal,” said Nava Bharat in a statement.
As part of the project, MCL will be setting up a 300 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant fully integrated with captive coal mining, dedicated water supply system and an exclusive 330 kV power transmission line.
Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nava Bharat, holds 65% of the equity stake in MCL, while the balance is held by the ZCCM Investments Holding.
Nava Bharat will be investing around $150 million, or Rs.900 crore, as part of its equity share.
The project has already made 80% progress in all facets of implementation and is scheduled for commissioning by mid-2016, said the company statement.
In its June earnings call, Nava Bharat management said MCL has signed up a power purchase agreement to supply 100% of the plant capacity to Zambia Electricity Supply Corp. for a period of 20 years.
On completion of the project, Nava Bharat will operate and maintain the power plant.
Shares of Nava Bharat rose 19.98% and were trading at Rs.169.35 on BSE at 12.25pm, while the benchmark Sensex index gained 0.30% and was trading at 27,450.57 points.

source: http://www.livemint.com