IBRA sells Chandra Asri stake to Thai firm
Tuesday, September 30 2003 - 04:40 AM WIB
Junianto Prijono, an IBRA deputy chairman, said on Tuesday that Glazer & Putnam would also assume $100 million in debt that Chandra Asri owes IBRA, Dow Jones reported.
The Thai company will also take over from IBRA bonds that can be converted into shares in a separate company owned by Indonesian-Chinese businessman Prayogo Pangestu, who founded Chandra Asri in the 1990s.
The total deal is worth Rp 602 billion ($=Rp 8,410), Prijono said.
After the sale, Chandra Asri will have cleared up its debt to IBRA, and the agency will have no longer hold any stake in the company.
The agency gained its stake in Chandra Asri after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis pushed the company into bankruptcy. A collapse in demand for petrochemicals worldwide meant the company was unable to repay huge loans to Indonesian state-owned banks.
IBRA, which was set up in 1998 to resolve the banking crisis, took over Chandra Asri's loans and took a stake in the company.
Last year, Chandra Asri reached a debt-restructuring agreement under which Japanese creditors led by Marubeni Corp. swapped $147 million of their total loans of $731 million for a 24.59 percent stake in the company. IBRA took its 25.9 percent stake in the company under the same agreement.
Following the sale, Chandra Asri will belong to Prajogo Pangestu (49.6 percent), Glazer & Putnam (25.9 percent) and the Japanese consortium (24.59 percent).
The firm's petrochemeical plant is located in Cilegon, Banten.(*)