ISDN Holdings raises stake in Aenergy to 50%

MAINBOARD-LISTED ISDN Holdings has increased its stake in Indonesia-focused hydropower producer Aenergy to 50 per cent from 39.9 per cent previously, through a capital injection of US$6.9 million, it announced on Thursday after the market closed.

ISDN originally incorporated Aenergy as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2013 to diversify beyond its core business of integrated precision engineering. It later roped in other investors, reducing its stake in Aenergy in the process.

ISDN said on Thursday that the new capital injection comes with "with the outlook for the hydropower sector increasingly favourable amid robust energy consumption in Indonesia". Aenergy is set to roll out a series of mini-hydropower plants in North Sumatra and Sulawesi with a combined production capacity of more than 84 MW of electricity.

The first plant will start production by the middle of 2019, while the second and third will start in the third quarter of 2019 and the last quarter of 2020 respectively. These three plants in North Sumatra will be able to generate a total of 23.6 MW of electricity, enough to power more than 12,000 homes. Aenergy will sell the electricity to PT PLN (Persero), Indonesia's state-run power distribution company.

ISDN shares closed unchanged on Thursday at 19.5 Singapore cents before the announcement.