Antam considers new financing schemes for bauxite project
Antam considers new financing schemes for bauxite project
Tony Hotland
Jakarta
After canceling a rights issue late last month, mining company
PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) is considering other schemes to finance
its bauxite mining project in Tayan, West Kalimantan.
"We're thinking of other alternatives such as selling non-
productive assets like land and buildings, which have the
potential to bring in up to US$10 million. We also have some
kinds of reserves and their values are being calculated," Antam
president director Dedi Aditya Soemanegara said after the
company's shareholders meeting on Thursday.
He said that a rights issue would likely be the last option,
considering that "it is not easy to conduct a rights issue".
Dedi added that the publicly listed company had appointed
investment bank Citigroup as its advisor to review possible
alternatives in financing the estimated $220 million project.
He also said that Antam was still in negotiations with a
number of companies from Malaysia and Japan to become partners in
the project.
"There are three companies including us and the share pattern
is 40 percent for us, but we're open to new partners. The
agreement is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year,
but remember that such an agreement is complex because it
requires approval from all shareholders," said Dedi.
Antam is also looking for long term contracts to buy the
products from the project to assure revenues.
With the Tayan project, Antam plans to produce up to 300,000
tons of chemical grade alumna (CGA) per year. CGA is used for
various commercial and industrial purposes such as the
manufacturing of ceramics, paint, spark plugs, and toothpaste.
Meanwhile, Antam's shareholders agreed on Thursday to allocate
32 percent of the company's 2003 net profit -- or Rp 38.6 per
share -- in dividends this year. The company booked a Rp 226.55
billion ($25.17 million) net profit in 2003.
Antam is 65 percent owned by the government and the remainder
by the investing public. The House of Representatives is still
discussing the government's plan to sell 14 percent of its shares
in the second semester of this year.
The shareholders also installed Wisnu Askari Marantika as the
company's new chief commissioner and Irwandi Arif as the
company's independent commissioner.
"The mining business is getting tougher and we need new people
to lead Antam to improve the corporate value and be quick in
making decisions," said Roes Aryawijaya, a deputy of the Office
of the State Minister of State Enterprises.
Antam's unaudited net profit during the first quarter of the
year surged to Rp 147 billion, up 171 percent from the same
period last year. The increase is attributed to higher commodity
prices and increased ferronickel and nickel ore sales volumes.