Bakrie raises $67m through bonds

Bakrie raises $67m through bonds

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bakrie Investindo, a Bakrie Group company,
secured US$67 million yesterday through the issuance of
exchangeable bonds to a consortium of eight domestic and foreign
investment institutions.

Aburizal Bakrie, the company's chief commissioner, said the
exchangeable bonds will mature in five years with an annual
interest rate of four percent.

"After five years, the holders of the bonds can either
exchange them for Bakrie & Brothers' shares, or collect their
money from Bakrie Investindo," Aburizal said after witnessing the
signing of an agreement on the bond issuance by the president of
Bakrie Investindo, Anton Setianto.

Bakrie Investindo, 100 percent owned by the Bakrie family, is
one of the shareholders in the publicly-listed Bakrie & Brothers.
Investindo's lines of business include property, mining,
broadcasting and husbandry.

Aburizal said that the funds from the bond issuance would be
used mainly to repay Investindo's short-term commercial loans.

He said the company's total loans stood at some Rp 200 billion
(US$90 million), with a debt to equity ratio of one to one.

"We're compelled to look for the funds abroad as we cannot
find such a large amount of funds here. Our group's borrowings
from domestic banks have reached the legal lending limit set by
the central bank," Aburizal said.

On hand at yesterday's ceremony were Tanri Abeng, president of
Bakrie & Brothers, and representatives of the eight investment
institutions.

The eight institutions are HSBC Private Equity Fund L.P.,
Search Group, Peregrine Indonesia Fund Ltd., Prudential Asset
Management Asia Ltd., Soros Capital Indonesia, Wardley Asia
Pacific Investment Ltd., William E. Simon & Sons LDC and Simon
Asia Entrepreneurial Capital Management LDC, which was acting as
the lead arranger for the bond issue. (rid)