Antam plans to buy back its euro bonds
Tuesday, September 7 2004 - 03:16 AM WIB
Publicly listed mining company Antam is considering to buy back part of its euro bonds by the end of the second semester this year as part of the company's debt refinancing program, Koran Tempo reported on Tuesday.
Antam's corporate secretary Dohar Siregar said in Jakarta on Monday that the buy back program was being considered in a bid to reduce the interest payment that had to be paid to the bondholders.
Dohar said that the company had spent at least US$5 million in an earlier buy back program. "With the purchase, the value of (our) euro bonds circulating in the market has been reduced to US$195 million, he said.
The company issued the bonds in September, last year with coupon interest of 7.37 percent per annum to finance the company's third ferronickel processing plant in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi.
He said that the buyback program would be made to take the advantage of the surge in the nickel prices in the world. "The rise in the nickel prices has resulted in the improvement in our cash flow," he said. (*)