Bank Mandiri ready to provide funding for acquisition of PT Peni
Friday, November 1 2002 - 04:49 AM WIB
"We are ready to provide 70 percent of the funds needed to take over PT Peni as long as it is integrated with PT Chandra Asri. The remaining 30 percent of the acquisition fund should be provided by the investors," the bank?s president ECW Neloe said in Jakarta on Thursday.
Neloe who was the president of PT Chandra Asri before being elected as Bank Mandiri?s president said that the integration of PT Peni into PT Chandra should be made as the prime condition for the disbursement of the funds from the bank.
According to him, a similar business integration was taken on the operation of PT Chandra Asri and PT Try Polita Indonesia. Under such business strategy PT Chandra Asri should increase the production capacity of its olefin plant. This revamping measure was taken not only to save PT Chandra Asri but also had successfully reduced dependence of PT Try Polity from imported raw materials
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and other shareholders including Prayogo Pangestu should however continue to put a priority on the repayment of its debts if it wanted to take part in the takeover PT Peni. The composition of Chandra Asri shareholders had underwent a major change following the company?s debt restructuring. At present IBRA holds 28.72 percent of IBRA, Prajogo 47 percent, other investors including Japan Indonesia Petrochemical Investment Corporation hold the remaining shares.
Neloe was reluctant to unveil the estimated value of PT Peni which is owned by BP, Mitsui and Sumitomo. But sources said that investors would only bid the company for about US$104 million. The company has invested at least about US$800 million since its operation in early 1990.
Several companies including National Petroleum Corp of Thailand and Marubeni Corporation have expressed their interest to take over PT Peni. (*)