Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper is a multinational venture that has grown out of a strong and growing market demand for high-quality pulp. The mill has been made possible by the confidence of financial institutions and industry leaders from around the globe. Our story begins in 1991, when the very first Acacia mangium monocrops were planted in South Sumatra. We recognized this as a good opportunity to establish a mill that would utilize this abundant new resource. An ideal site for the mill was selected near the Lematang river, about 120 km from Palembang. The location offers abundant water, a minimal distance between the plantation and the mill, with access to a deep-sea port. Sandwell Inc of Canada was named as our technical consultant on the project. The German company TESSAG Industrie-Anlagen (TESSAG-INA), formerly known as Klockner Industrie-Anlagen, was selected as the turnkey contractor. Financing was secured in 1997, during the height of the Asian financial crisis. Confidence in the project never wavered, despite the economic crunch in Indonesia and the rest of Asia. The financing for the project was an industry first; a unique project financing, namely Limited Recourse Financing. It was made possible by over 29 lenders, comprising mainly Export Credit Agencies from Sweden, Germany, Canada, Finland and International Commercial Banks in Asia, Europe and USA. In December of 1999, the mill began producing pulp. The first pulp shipment left the Port of Tarahan on February 7, 2000 certainly a proud day for everyone who has worked so hard to make PT TeL one of the largest pulp mills in Southeast Asia.