Salomon Smith Barney intends to guarantee entire Antam bonds

Salomon Smith Barney (SSB), a unit of securities company Salomon Brothers International, has expressed interest to guarantee 100 percent of the bonds planned to be issued by state-owned general mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted a source as saying that SSB had approached Bahana Securities to convey its intention. Bahana Securities was among the four underwriters named to guarantee the issuance of Antam?s rupiah bonds of Rp 1 trillion (US$=Rp9,023) and dollar-based bonds of US$100 million. The other three securities firms were PT Andalan Artha Advisiondo Securities, PT Danareksa Sekuritas and PT Mandiri Sekuritas.

?Salomon smith Barney has lobbied one of the underwriters to control the entire bonds which will be issued by Antam,? the source said on Monday.

Danareksa Sekuritas president director Wahzary Wardaya said he had got no information about SSB?s move. He added however that SSB guaranteeing the entire bonds of Antam would fulfill the mining firm?s needs for fresh funds for its third ferro nickel processing plant, FeNi III.

Meanwhile, Bahana Securities director Ito Warsito also said he did not know about SSB?s intention to guarantee Antam bonds. He said Antam had offered Bahana Securities to become joint lead underwriter for Antam bonds issuance. (*)