Bakrie secures $75m loan

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantation signed a US$75 million syndicated loan facility yesterday to finance the development of a new oil palm plantation in the district of Sanggau, West Kalimantan.

Bakrie Sumatra's president, Hanif Bakri, told journalists yesterday the loan has a maximum term of seven years.

Hanif said the Singapore branch of Credit Suisse acted as the lead arranger of the loan facility, in which 16 banks from Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Indonesia took part in.

Commenting on the new oil palm plantation, he said in the first phase which began early this year, the company developed approximately 40,000 hectares.

"We have a total area of around 200,000 hectares and we will start to expand the plantation next year," he added. (alo)