Astra Agro to sell non-CPO units

Astra Agro to sell non-CPO units

JAKARTA: Indonesian crude palm oil producer PT Astra Agro
Lestari said Tuesday it expects to finish the sale of its non-
crude palm oil units by the end of the third quarter of this
year.

"We want to finish the sale of the cocoa, tea and rubber units
by the third quarter of this year," Astra Agro's vice president
director, Benny Tjoeng, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Astra Agro has 12 such units in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan
islands.

Tjoeng said the total size of the plantations for sale is
around 24,000 hectares. The plan to sell its units is aimed at
focusing on its core business, the crude palm oil industry, he
added.

He declined to reveal how much money Astra Agro will raise
from the sales.

The daily Tempo newspaper Tuesday quoted Astra Agro director
Juliani Eliza Syaftari as saying the company would likely raise
up to US$35 million from the sales.

Astra Agro is 63.9 percent owned by Indonesian auto group PT
Astra International.

Late last year, the car manufacturer said it had signed an
$850 million debt-restructuring deal with its creditors, which
included the sale of assets such as its stake in the plantations
group. However, the parent company later said it doesn't plan to
sell its shareholding in Astra Agro, which it considers to be a
valuable asset. -- Dow Jones