The BOOT consortium
In March 1993 Nam Theun 2 was unshelved as a BOOT project in a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) between the GoL and Transmec, a joint venture of SMEC and Transfield. The MOU with
Transmec called for the further development of the engineering plans as well as the
Environmental Assessment (EA) study. Concurrently, the Lao government asked the
World Bank to consider financing the Government’s equity investment in the project
and assist Transmec as needed in financing and developing the project. The Bank advised
GoL and Transmec that further studies needed to be carried out before the Bank could
become involved in financing the proposed project.
On 8th November 1993 the GoL signed a Project Development Agreement with Transfield that
gave the company the mandate to form a consortium, to seek financing for the project, and
to negotiate a Power Purchase Agreement with EGAT as an Independent Power Producer (IPP).
By the second half of 1993 SMEC had pulled out of the project because it could not raise
its AUD$10 million equity. Following SMEC's pull out a new consortium of private companies
(see Table below), initially known as the Nam Theun 2 Project Development Group (PDG), now
known as the Nam Theun Electricity Consortium (NTEC) was formed with Transfield as project
leader.
Shareholding members of the NTEC
| Shareholder |
Country |
Industry expertise |
Share |
| Transfield |
Australia |
Project management / Engineering |
10% |
Electricite de France
(took over SMEC interest) |
France |
Largest electricity utility in the world |
30% |
| Italian-Thai Development |
Thailand |
Largest civil engineering company in South East
Asia |
15% |
Phatra Thanakit Co Ltd
(Securities Division) |
Thailand |
Finance |
10% |
| Jasmine International Ltd |
Thailand |
Turnkey telecommunications engineering |
10% |
| Government of Lao PDR |
|
|
25% |
The Thai financial crisis has hit the NTEC Thai partners hard. In July
1998, Phatra Thanakit who has been hit the hardest by the crisis, approved the sale of a
51% share of its Securities Division to the US firm Merrill Lynch. The other 49% was
bought out by the Thai Farmers Bank. The new firm which still holds a 10% stake in Nam
Theun 2 will be known as Phatra Merrill Lynch Securities. It is unclear how the other two
Thai partners will weather the financial crisis.
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