Pertamina to sign $700m loan agreement today

State-owned oil, gas firm PT Pertamina will raise $700 million in syndicated loan from seven banks to add its capital expenditures for next year, a director said.

The firm will sign the loan agreement with the seven banks, that is ANZ, BCA, BNP, RBS, HSBC, Mitsubishi OFJ, later today, Finance Director Ferederick Siahaan said on Thursday.

The loan has a tenor of five years and bears an interest of 2.5 percent per annum above LIBOR, he said.

Pertamina also plans to sign a $300 million loan deal with PT Bank Mandiri and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia next week. The loan will also have a tenor of five years.

Both loan are for 2010 Pertamina capital expenditure, which is estimated at Rp 39 trillion (1US$ = Rp 9,400), he said.

Ferederick also said Pertamina had invited 16 banks to submit proposals related to its plan of issuing a global bond. "We plan to a hold beauty contest this month," he said. (bernard)