Antam sells $200m bonds at 7.875%
Antam sells $200m bonds at 7.875%
Dow Jones, Jakarta
Indonesia's state-owned gold and nickel mining company PT
Aneka Tambang, or Antam, on Tuesday sold US$200 million of bonds
at 7.875 percent, the top end of the indicative range, a source
close to the deal told Dow Jones Newswires.
The seven-year bonds, which have a four-year call option,
carry a fixed coupon of 7.375 percent.
The bonds were priced at the top end of the company's 7.75
percent-7.875 percent indicative yield range, while the amount of
bonds sold was at the bottom end of the $200 million to $275
million band that Antam had indicated.
The mining company had originally planned to issue the bonds
Sept. 10 but encountered difficulties as many investors were
demanding higher yields.
Market observers had said the delay in the Antam bond sale
could also be because the company isn't well-known in the
international debt market, despite strong interest from local
investors.
"It did take a little longer as it's a new credit many
investors had never heard before," the source said.
He said Indonesian investors headed the buyers list with a 63
percent share of the bonds.
Investors from Europe bought 12 percent of the bonds, Hong
Kong 10 percent, Singapore 10 percent and the U.S. 5 percent, he
added.
Around 60 percent of the buyers were banks, 30 percent fund
managers, 5 percent insurance companies and 5 percent hedge
funds, the source also said.
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a B3 foreign currency
rating to the bonds. The outlook for the rating is stable.
ABN Amro was the sole book runner for the bond.
Antam is 65 percent-owned by the Indonesian government and is
listed on both the Jakarta and Australian stock exchanges.
Demand for the Antam bonds wasn't as poor as some had
expected, although the eventual size of the deal was at the
bottom end of the company's expectations.
Antam is the second local company to tap the offshore bond
market after a deadly hotel bombing in Jakarta early last month,
which dented sentiment for Indonesian foreign currency debt.
Earlier this month, state-owned gas utility PT Perusahaan Gas
Negara, or PGN, was forced to cut its maiden global bond offering
to $150 million from the originally planned $200 million due to
weaker investor appetite in the wake of the hotel bombing. Having
said that, PGN managed to price the bond at the lower end of the
indicative yield range, at 7.75 percent, due to the smaller size.
Later this month, state-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia is
scheduled to issue between $100 million and $150 million of
subordinated bonds. That will be followed later in the year by
state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina which plans to sell
$500 million of bonds. Indonesian Satellite Corp.is also planning
a $300 million offering.