"China’s big firms put reputation at risk in Batang Toru power plant" The Jakarta Post, 2023

[...] Bank of China (BOC) [...] decided to pull out shortly after its announcement to review the project in 2019.

In 2021, [...] Zhefu Holdings [...] sold its shares to China’s state-owned State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC) [...].

[...]

SDIC Power’s takeover has revived the ailing project. The company said it had adopted a syndicated loan from a group of lenders led by the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank of China) [...].

Environmental groups have criticized the participation of China’s big and internationally renowned companies in the disputed project.

“[...] now another Chinese bank [Exim Bank of China], wholly owned by the government, has been handed the baton to finance this toxic project,” Amanda Hurowitz senior director for Southeast Asia at Mighty Earth told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 23.

Hurowitz also slammed the participation of SDIC, saying that it should have “thought twice” about investing in a project plagued by controversies like Batang Toru.

[...] most recent bondholders for its parent SDIC Group came mostly from Chinese financial institutions. It has also successfully gathered funding from Western financial institutions [...].

BlackRock and Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the matter, while Vanguard and State Street did not respond to requests for comments.

SDIC Power, NSHE and the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta did not respond to requests for comments.