Govt to audit Texmaco's assets<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The government will audit textile maker Texmaco Group to check
\nwhether it had properly used the loans provided by state banks.<\/p>\n
The audit comes as the government mulls whether to bail out,
\nbreak up or sell the group which missed a payment of its debt in
\nAugust this year.<\/p>\n
"The IBRA (Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency) will, in the
\nnear future, conduct the audit to see where the loans went,"
\nMinister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi said at the State
\nPalace after accompanying several leaders of state owned
\nenterprises in meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
The audit also aims to see whether the company's debts
\n"correspond with the value of Texmaco's machinery."<\/p>\n
Last year, Texmaco agreed to restructure its Rp 29 trillion
\n(about US$3.4 billion) debt. In August this year, it missed the
\nRp 139 billion interest payment, according to reports which were
\nconfirmed by IBRA.<\/p>\n
Founder Marimutu Sinivasan has asked the government to bail
\nout the company, but the government thus far has yet to make a
\ndecision.<\/p>\n
According to Laksamana, the government has been eagerly
\nlooking to sell the firm but no investors have shown adequate
\ninterest. In the meantime, the closure of the firm would lead to
\nthe dismissals of more than 40,000 workers at a time of rising
\nunemployment.<\/p>\n
In July, IBRA failed in an attempt to sell Texmaco's debt and
\nshares after Malaysia's Utara Capital Ltd., a group led by the
\neldest son of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and
\nChina National Bluestar Corp., a state-owned enterprise, didn't
\nsubmit final bids by the deadline.<\/p>\n
"Even with the five cent (price tag), no one is interested in
\nbuying," Laksamana said.<\/p>\n
In response to Laksamana's statement, Nina Larasati of
\nTexmaco's corporate communications said as far as the firm knew,
\nIBRA had never offered the firm's assets at that price.<\/p>\n
She also said IBRA had appointed an independent consultant to
\nconduct a "due diligence audit" on Texmaco's assets. The audit
\nhas been completed and was accepted by IBRA.<\/p>\n
Nina insisted that Texmaco's machinery was imported from
\nWestern Europe and the Ministry of Research and Technology is
\nconducting a technology audit on Texmaco's machinery.<\/p>\n
Texmaco was founded by Marimutu Sinivasan, a businessman of
\nIndian descent. Sinivasan was one of the few successful non
\nChinese-Indonesian businessmen during the Soeharto era.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-audit-texmacos-assets-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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