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"As a minority shareholder with 10 % of the shares in the 2.1 bln dollar power generating project we will invest 52.5 mln dollars over the years 2017-2020," Kaarel Kuusk, chief of media relations at Eesti Energia.

"The sources for this investment are the premium of 19.8 mln dollars received from the sale of the stake, recovery of all of the development costs in the amount of 30.6 mln dollars incurred during eight years, and the income generated by the project," Kuusk said, adding that Eesti Energia will put no "new money" in the project during the construction period.

"In addition we will earn owner's income from the project, which is secured by a 30-year agreement on the sale of electricity at a fixed price and a guarantee issued to it by the Jordanian government," he said.

Asked about the return on the investment, Kuusk said that Eesti Eneregia cannot provide any figures, but described it as "good."

"In addition to 'good' I can say that it's a double digit figure," the spokesman added.

APCO announced on Thursday that it has reached financial close for the 2.1 bln U.S. dollar project to build the first oil shale fired power station and open cast mine in Jordan. With the financial close, Eesti Energia has completed the sell-down of its previous 65 % shareholding in APCO to 10%.

Eesti Energia said on Thursday it will receive a combined amount of 50.4 mln U.S. dollars from the sale of shares and as return of the project development costs.

APCO is now owned 45 % by YTL Power International Berhad, 45 % by Guangdong Yudean Group Co. Limited of China and 10 % by Eesti Energia.

The shareholders have committed to provide base shareholder funding of up to 528 mln U.S. dollars to fund the project.

The remaining 1.58 bln dollars is provided by Bank of China and Industrial Commercial Bank of China. A guarantee to the loan was provided by the Chinese export credit agency Sinosure and it represents the biggest ever guarantee issued by Sinosure.

The power plant with a gross output capacity of 554 megawatts and net output capacity of 470 megawatts will be built at Attarat um Ghudran, Jordan by Guangdong Power Engineering Corporation, subsidiary of China Energy Engineering Group Co Ltd. The first of the plant's two power generating units using the circulating fluidized bed technology is to be completed in 38 months and the second in 42 months. The plant is expected to be operational in mid-2020.

The plant's design will be provided by the Australian company WorleyParsons, the boilers supplied by the British company Foster Wheeler and the turbine and generators by Siemens of Germany.

The energy produced by the plant will be bought by the Jordanian state owned energy company National Electric Power Corporation under a 30-year fixed term agreement. The project represents the biggest ever individual investment in Jordan to date.