Orpheus says former partner in breach of debt settlement deal
Wednesday, September 23 2015 - 05:00 AM WIB
ASX-listed Orpheus Energy announced Wednesday that it has presented post-dated cheques provided by Nugroho Suksmanto, amounting to Rp 20.8 billion (about A$2.08 million) to the bank in Indonesia, on three separate occasions, five working days apart, as required by Indonesian law, and on each presentation the bank advised there were insufficient funds to honor the cheques.
As announced on July 30, 2015, Orpheus had agreed to a Settlement Agreement with its former Indonesian partner Suksmanto, whereby Suksmanto was required to make a payment in the amount of Rp 20.8 billion (A$2.08M) by August 31. ?As the cheques were not able to be honored, Suksmanto is in breach of the Settlement Agreement,? Orpheus said in a statement.
As also announced on July 30, as part of the Settlement Agreement, Orpheus was provided with additional security from Suksmanto's family (Noegroho Pranoto and Yohana Kurniastuti), in the form of a pledge agreement over 1,073 shares (equivalent to 7 percent) owned by Noegroho Pranoto in Indonesian property development company, PT Abadi Guna Papan (AGP) and a pledge agreement over 578 shares (equivalent to 3.5 percent) owned by Yohana Kurniastuti in AGP (Shares Pledge Agreements). Among numerous developments, AGP owns the 28-storey office building where Orpheus?s Jakarta office is located in the Mega Kuningan CBD area.
The company said that given Suksmanto's breach of the Settlement Agreement, Orpheus, as the pledgee under the Shares Pledge Agreements is entitled to sell the pledged shares, on behalf of the pledgors based on powers of attorney to sell shares and consents to transfer issued by the pledgors, to recover the outstanding funds owed to Orpheus.
In this context, the company said it has advanced negotiations with three separate parties to acquire the equity in AGP. ?One of the potential buyers is waiting on an independent valuation on two final properties in the AGP portfolio to proceed with the potential acquisition,? Orpheus said.
Orpheus in July of last year signed agreements with Suksmanto, PT Mega Coal and related parties regarding the sale of its Indonesian assets for total proceeds of approximately US$8.2million.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak