IBRA threatens to confiscate Djajanti's assets<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA)
\nhas threatened to confiscate the assets of plantation and fishery
\ninterest Djajanti Group unless it provides the agency with a lump
\npayment of Rp 206.5 billion (US$23.7 million) in cash as part of
\nits debt restructuring deal.<\/p>\n
The agency, in a letter dated June 28 (Wednesday), a copy of
\nwhich was made available to reporters, gave Djajanti until
\nThursday to provide the cash.<\/p>\n
Djajanti's commissioner, Effendi Sasrawijaya, said the company
\ncould not comply with the order and would seek a legal solution
\nto its dispute with the agency.<\/p>\n
\"We reject the order and will seek a legal solution,\" Effendi
\ntold reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Effendi said the company regretted the fact that the agency
\nhad never responded to any debt restructuring proposals made by
\nthe company.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the company sent its latest debt repayment
\nproposal to the agency, but Effendi said IBRA had thus far not
\nresponded.<\/p>\n
Djajanti, which is among the country's 21 largest obligors
\nwhose debts have been taken over by IBRA, has a total debt of
\nabout Rp 2.7 trillion.<\/p>\n
IBRA, which initially categorized Djajanti as an uncooperative
\ncompany, demanded it pay Rp 270 billion up front, or 10 percent
\nof its debt, to demonstrate its cooperative attitude. Otherwise,
\nthe agency would file a bankruptcy petition against the company.<\/p>\n
Djajanti first told IBRA that the company did not have such an
\namount of money, and instead proposed providing Rp 25 billion in
\nthe first cash payment and paying the rest in installments over
\nthree years.<\/p>\n
Under the new debt proposal, the company raised the amount of
\nthe first cash payment to Rp 50 billion.<\/p>\n
Djajanti, which has 70 percent of its plantation and fishery
\nplant assets in Maluku and Irian Jaya, is now facing difficulties
\nin its operations following the one-and-a-half-year-long
\nreligious violence in Maluku and the rising separatist movement
\nin Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Djajanti borrowed Rp 930 billion from Bank Dagang Negara for
\none of its plantation units in 1994. Lured by the low interest
\nrate of dollar loans, the company later converted the loan into
\ndollars.<\/p>\n
However, the loan soared to Rp 2.7 trillion amid the economic
\ncrisis sparked by the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against
\nthe dollar in 1997.<\/p>\n
Effendi noted that some American financial companies were now
\neying Djajanti and hoping that IBRA filed a bankruptcy petition
\nagainst the company and that the court would declare the company
\nbankrupt so they could buy it at low price.<\/p>\n
He warned that the American firms might have the intention of
\nsupporting the separatist movement in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, former Irian Jaya governor Izaac Hindom, who is
\ncurrently a member of the Supreme Advisory Council, warned IBRA
\nof the consequences of its plans to confiscate Djajanti's assets
\nor file a bankruptcy petition against the company.<\/p>\n
He said thousands of Irianese who work for Djajanti's
\nplantation and processing plants in Irian Jaya would be in danger
\nof losing their jobs if the agency realized its plan and that
\nthis would aggravate sociopolitical problems in the province.<\/p>\n
Djajanti employs about 50,000 people in Maluku and Irian Jaya,
\nincluding a large number of local people.<\/p>\n
Izaac also called on IBRA to prevent any foreign companies
\nfrom taking over Djajanti's assets in Irian Jaya, also warning
\nthat the foreign investors might be supporting the separatist
\nmovement in the province.<\/p>\n
\"It will be a bad thing if IBRA allows foreign firms to buy
\nthe company's assets. The people who want Irian Jaya's
\nindependence will be happy because that might speed up the
\nindependence process,\" Izaac told reporters. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ibra-threatens-to-confiscate-djajantis-assets-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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