GEORGE TOWN, CAYMAN ISLANDS--(Marketwire - September 21, 2009) - Asia Special Situations Acquisition Corp (NYSE Amex: CIO) announced here today that its prospective merger partner, White Energy Company Limited (ASX: WEC) completed a bank debt facility with Standard Chartered Bank, the $430 billion London-listed banking group founded in 1853. The credit facility was entered into by PT Kaltim Supacoal, the joint venture that is 51% owned by White Energy and 49% by Bayan Resources (IDX: BYAN), a leading Indonesian publicly traded coal producer.

ASSAC and White Energy (currently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange) have executed a merger agreement pursuant to which White Energy will merge into ASSAC and become a publicly traded energy company in the United States to be listed on either the NYSE or the NYSE Amex exchange. The merger is subject to court approval in Australia, shareholder approvals of each of White Energy and ASSAC and other customary closing conditions.

Standard Chartered has provided White Energy with a US$10.0 million working capital facility, and has been appointed as lead arranger in a $150.0 million project financing facility. The facility is intended to accelerate the expansion of the coal upgrading plants constructed on Bayan's mine site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The PT Kaltim Supacoal facility is a fully constructed 1.0 million ton per annum plant. White Energy advises that the plant is the largest clean coal facility in the world. The joint venture partners have recently increased financial commitments in order to construct upgrading capacity to 15.0 million tons per annum.

White Energy advises that it has contracted annual capacity in excess of 48 million tons per annum for its coal upgrading process, including its previously disclosed joint venture in the US and China with Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU), the largest private sector coal company in the world that fuels approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation. White Energy also has a joint venture with the global asset management company, Black River Asset Management LLC, an independently managed subsidiary of Cargill.

"The participation by a major global bank reaffirms to us that ASSAC has made the correct decision to merge with White Energy," said Dr. Gary Hirst, President and Director of ASSAC. "White Energy continues to demonstrate its ability to access the capital markets, having now completed its debt facility and having completed an equity placement in May 2009 which we are advised was more than 200% over-subscribed in a twenty-four hour book-build period. The White Energy management team continues to execute on its business plan, which provides us with comfort that the company will achieve great success once listed in the North American capital markets."

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained in this press release is forward-looking. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included or referenced in this press release that address activities, events or developments which ASSAC or White Energy expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Statements which include the words "expect," "intend," "plan," "believes," "project," "anticipate," "will," and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature identify forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by White Energy in its business plan in light of a number of factors, including its expertise and perception of historical and future business trends in the coal industry, the accuracy of budgeted capital expenditures and cash flow forecasts, and expected future developments with respect to the BCB clean coal upgrading technology. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to the expectations of White Energy and the Company are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties (many of which are beyond the control of White Energy and the Company) that could cause actual results to differ materially from such expectations. In addition, the commercialization of the BCB clean coal upgrading technology is subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the development of a new technology and product, including, the inability of the technology to produce lower-cost upgraded coal products; actual costs of construction of coal upgrading facilities exceeding budgeted amounts; delays in construction; working capital shortages that may require additional financings which may be unavailable; the inability to produce upgraded coal products on a large scale commercial basis; the inability to achieve market acceptance; competitive technologies; the inability to protect intellectual property rights; and price forecasts of coal-based fuel products exceeding actual market prices.