Fri, 15 Aug 1997

Bakrie subsidiary gets $25m loan

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bakrie Brycon Indonesia, a subsidiary of Bakrie Brothers' PT Bakrie Building Industries, secured a US$25 million syndicated loan yesterday from four foreign banks led by American Express Bank.

The loan will be used to finance the building of its plant in Cibitung near Bekasi in West Java to produce housing modules made of concrete. The concrete-framed building, called Brycon Home, will be shipped to the location after its completion.

American Express Bank Ltd (Amex) arranged the loan with Germany's Deutche Bank AG, The Netherlands' ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and Indover Bank.

Bakrie Brycon's commercial director, Mohamad Syahbudin, said the loan, which would mature in one year, carried an annual interest rate of 8.75 percent.

"The product will be used to build low-cost houses and low- cost apartments," Syahbudin said.

He said his company would develop a low-cost apartment in Meruya Udik, West Jakarta, as a pilot project in cooperation with Jakarta's provincial administration, in January next year.

"With the Brycon Home system we can build a house with prices 20 percent lower than conventional houses," he said.

"This system is intended to fulfill people's needs of low-cost houses and apartments," he said.

He added his company was in the land preparation stage, and would begin producing in November.

"We plan to set up two factories, in Cibitung with 5,000 units production capacity per year and a mobile plant with 2,500 production capacity per year," he said.

Bakrie Brycon Indonesia is 76 percent owned by Bakrie Building Industries of the Bakrie Brothers Group and 24 percent by Britain's Brycon International Ltd.

Hasan Ali, the company's finance and administration director, said the project would need Rp 141 billion investment, comprised of Rp 40 billion for working capital and Rp 103 billion as fixed assets.

American Express Bank's Director of Corporate Banking, Muhamadian Rostian, said it would contribute $7.5 million, Deutche Bank AG $7.5 million, ABN Amro Bank $5 million and Indover Bank $5 million. (08)