Antam ready to issue bonds in rupiah and U.S. dollars

State-owned general mining company PT Aneka Tambang will issue bonds in rupiah and U.S. dollar if the company cancels its plan to raise loans from German financial company IKB Hermes, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

A source told the daily that the company expected to raise Rp 1 trillion (US$=Rp9,000) from the issuance of the rupiah-denominated bonds and up to US$100 million from the dollar-based bonds.

According to the source, the issuance of the bonds is part of several alternatives to be taken by the company if the publicly listed company later decided to cancel its plan to raise loans from the German company.

Several local securities companies including PT Danareksa Sekuritas, PT Andalan Artha Advisindo Sekuritas, PT Bahana Securities and PT Mandiri Sekuritas will act as underwriters or guarantors of the rupiah-denominated bonds. Meanwhile Deutsche Securities Indonesia and Salomon Smith Barney will jointly underwrite the dollar-denominated bonds.

The source said that Antam might cancel its plan to raise loans from the German company due to further strengthening of the euro against the U.S. dollar.

The funds which will be raised from the issuance of the bonds would be used to finance the company?s third ferro nickel processing plant, FeNi III.

When confirmed about the bond issuance plan, Antam?s investors relations, said that the preparation of the bond issuance was going on. "But the final decision will be made during an extra-ordinary shareholders meeting later this month," he added. (*)