Bakrie Group's subsidiary wins international status
Bakrie Group's subsidiary wins international status
By Riyadi
SINGAPORE (JP): Bakrie Nusantara International Pte. Ltd., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the widely diversified Bakrie Group of
Indonesia, won an Approved International Trade (AIT) status from
the Singapore government yesterday.
Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry Yeo Chew Tong
presented an AIT certificate to the group's president, Aburizal
Bakrie, in a ceremony yesterday.
Bakrie Nusantara, set up here in 1990, is the first Indonesian
company to receive AIT status. AIT certification was introduced
for the first time in 1990 by the Singapore Trade Development
Board in order to attract international trading firms to operate
in the island republic. Such status is conferred on Singapore-
incorporated companies which meet certain criteria, including an
annual turnover of at least US$100 million.
The board's chief, Barry Desker, said that companies awarded
AIT status benefit from a concessional corporate income tax rate
of a mere 10 percent, as compared to the normal rate of 27
percent.
Aburizal said that, with the status, Bakrie Nusantara will
also have special access to financial services in Singapore.
He said Bakrie Nusantara is committed to doubling its annual
turnover to $200 million by 1998 and to helping promote
Indonesia's non-oil exports.
About 75 percent of the company's trading activities are
exports from Indonesia. "Of the Indonesian exports, only 25
percent come from the businesses of the Bakrie Group," Aburizal
said.
Commodities
Bakrie Nusantara's managing director, Ramchandra Hegde, said
that the company concentrates on the trading of commodities, such
as coal, cotton, steel, palm oil, cement powder and sugar.
Apart from normal trading, the company is also involved in
counter trade. "For Myanmar, for example, Bakrie Nusantara
supplies Indian cement, on a counter-trade basis, in exchange for
rubber," he said.
He said the company plans to commence trading in seamless
pipes, to take advantage of the booming construction industry in
the region.
Aburizal said that the Bakrie Group, whose subsidiaries
operate in manufacturing, finance, mining, property, trading and
communications, is considering new investments through Bakrie
Nusantara to integrate its trading activities with shipping and
warehousing.
Besides Bakrie Nusantara, the Bakrie Group has two other
trading affiliates -- Bakrie Trading and Lewis & Peat.
The group acquired Lewis & Peat, which has offices in New
York, London and Singapore, in 1991, to provide global trading
networks for Indonesia's latex and natural rubber.