Debt deadline nearing for Bluewaters owner Sumitomo

Bluewaters power station near Collie in WA.

One of the major owners of the Bluewaters Power Station, Sumitomo, is understood to have hired restructuring firm Houlihan Lokey as a debt repayment deadline approaches for the asset, which owes $400m.

Houlihan Lokey, which counts Australian restructuring expert Jim McKnight in its ranks, is now one of a raft of advisers around the situation.

McGrath Nicol is working with the lenders, along with law firm G+T, while Japanese bank MUFG is working as the financial adviser to the Bluewaters company.

Law firm Clayton Utz is also working for Sumitomo.

Debt is due in August, and the challenge will be finding funding at a time that banks are shying away from coal-fired power stations.

Houlihan Lokey and Clayton Utz are also working on Virgin Australia.

The power station, 4.5km northeast of Collie in Western Australia, was built by Griffin Energy in 2009. Owners include 50 per cent shareholder Sumitomo of Japan and Japanese power utility Kansai Electric. It has generation capacity of about 430 megawatts.

Attempts to secure hundreds of millions of dollars to refinance the asset were made last year.

Some observers say the owners may have to stump up equity to ensure it continues to operate.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has predicted that coal will contribute less than a third of supply to the national electricity grid by 2040 — down from 70 per cent currently.

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