Antam, Mitsui deal on new smelter plant deadlocked
Antam, Mitsui deal on new smelter plant deadlocked
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed state general mining company PT
Aneka Tambang (Antam) said on Tuesday it was deadlocked in
negotiations with Japanese contractor Mitsui & Co. Ltd. for the
construction of its third ferronickel smelting plant in Pomalaa,
Southeast Sulawesi.
Antam president Dedy Aditya Sumanegara said the two companies
had yet to reach an agreement on financing for the US$250 million
project.
Dedy said Mitsui wanted the export credit to be provided by
Japanese banks to finance the construction of the smelter and
that the loans should be guaranteed by the Indonesian government.
The government has refused to guarantee the loans because if
it were to agree with Mitsui's proposal, it would further
increase the its heavy foreign debt burden.
"We're still giving Mitsui a chance to propose an alternative
financing scheme that is acceptable to us.
"If the deadlock continues, we shall retender the project,"
Dedy said after the company's shareholders meeting.
Dedy said Mitsui was presenting a new financing scheme to
Antam but did not elaborate.
The FeNi III ferronickel smelter will increase the company's
ferronickel output to 24,000 tons in 2001 from 11,000 tons at
present.
Industrial sources say German company Krupp Tyssen Nirosta
Gmbh, backed by several top officials and President B.J.
Habibie's son Tareq Habibie, is ready to take over the project if
Mitsui fails to make a deal with Antam.
Dedy admitted that Krupp had approached Antam but denied that
the company was backed up by Habibie's son.
Australia
Dedy also said Antam had received in-principle approval on May
21 from the Australian Stock Exchange to list its shares there,
but the company was waiting for a good time to be listed.
He said security problems being experienced by the company at
its gold mine in Pongkor, West Java, could discourage Australians
from buying its shares.
"It is only a matter of marketing. The government wants the
listing to receive a warm welcome," Dedy said.
Thousands of illegal miners have been mining Antam's gold
deposits in Pongkor over the past several months, causing
security problems at the mine.
The illegal miners vandalized Antam's facilities late last
year, causing the company a Rp 12 billion ($1.4 million) loss.
Dedy said the company's insurance firm had in principle agreed
to cover the losses, the exact amount of which are being
calculated.
Dedy said Antam's preparation to have the company listed in
Australia was continuing, with a road show in Australia to be
held shortly.
"We hope everything will go smoothly with the preparation work
for the listing so that we can list in Australia as soon as
possible," he said.
The shareholders meeting agreed to pay a Rp 103.87 dividend
per share, or 40 percent of the company's net profit in 1998.
The company booked a net profit of Rp 319.5 billion in 1998,
up 459 percent from Rp 69.5 billion in 1997. (jsk)