Banks invited to join $350m Pramindo loan

Banks invited to join $350m Pramindo loan

HONG KONG (Reuter): Banks have been invited to join a US$350 million loan facility for PT Pramindo Ikak Nusantara, arranger Chase Manhattan Bank Asia said yesterday.

The company is a consortium including Indonesia's Astra Group and France's Cable et Radio. Pramindo last year won a tender to install some 460,000 phone lines in Indonesia's Sumatra. It is one of several companies that won tenders to install two million telephone lines in Indonesia.

Arrangers of the facility are Banque Nationale de Paris, Chase Manhattan Asia, Fuji Bank, Societe Generale Asia and World Bank affiliate International Finance Corp.

The facility is completely underwritten by BNP, Chase, Fuji and Societe Generale.

The facility comprises two tranches. The first is a standby letter of credit facility up to the rupiah equivalent of US$150 million.

The second tranche is an IFC B loan up to US$300 million, to be funded by commercial banks through a participation agreement with the IFC, which is the lender of record.

Each tranche can be drawn to its maximum, but the total drawn amount cannot exceed US$350 million, Chase said.

Both tranches have a final maturity of eight years.

Further details, including pricing, will not be available until later this month, Chase said. A presentation to banks will be made on Feb. 9 in Singapore.

The IFC also will provide a US$50 million bilateral loan to the consortium, Chase said.