Berlian sees revenue to grow 10%

Berlian sees revenue to grow 10%

JAKARTA: Indonesian shipping company PT Berlian Laju Tanker, or BLT, said it expects its revenue to grow by at least 10 percents to around US$104.5 million this year as it plans to enlarge its fleet.

"This year, we expect our revenue to perform better than last year," BLT's Finance Director Kevin Wong told Dow Jones Newswires.

The company currently operates 31 ships, and expects to enlarge it to around 40 over two years.

Wong said the company's revenue last year is expected to be around $95 million, up from $85 million in 2001.

In a bid to support the revenue growth, the company within the next two years will need to spend between $300 million and $350 million to enlarge its fleet, he said. -- Dow Jones

Timah to acquire coal mine

JAKARTA: PT Tambang Timah, Indonesia's state-owned tin miner, plans to acquire a coal mine worth between US$15 million and $20 million.

The company is conducting due diligence on three coal mines in total, Timah's Chief Executive Thobrani Alwi told reporters late Tuesday.

The company will use internal cash to finance the acquisition.

He added that the company may acquire two mines if it manages to raise additional funds. The company has asked for government approval to launch a secondary public offering to raise funds, but so far the government hasn't responded so far, Thobrani said.

He gave no details on the acquisition targets.

Timah has been looking to diversify its mining operations beyond tin, to mitigate the impact of volatile tin prices. -- Dow Jones

Moody's impressed by Samsung

SEOUL: Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday that it has placed Samsung Electronics (SEC), the world's largest chipmaker, under review for a possible ratings upgrade.

The global credit appraiser said its action was prompted by the company's solid performance despite difficult market conditions and continuous improvements in its balance sheet.

"SEC's performance has been stronger than its peers in these markets due to its focused investments on target products and improvements to its brand image," it said. -- AFP

Shell, Sumitomo mull alliance

SINGAPORE: Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical are considering building an ethylene plant in Singapore worth at least US$1 billion, Shell said Wednesday.

The two companies have signed a letter of intent to conduct a feasibility study for the construction of the plant, Shell Chemicals said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the company said such ethylene plants cost at least $1 billion to build.

If the proposed venture is approved, it is expected to begin operations in 2007 and the ethylene plant will have an annual production capacity of one million tons.

"I am pleased to embark on the feasibility study of this world-scale project together with Sumitomo Chemical, which I believe will lead to a new phase of cooperation between our two companies," said Evert Henkes, outgoing Shell Chemicals chief executive.

The two companies have been cooperating through a joint venture company, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore. -- AFP

Deutsche Post eyes Sinotrans

FRANKFURT: Deutsche Post, the semi-privatized German postal authority, wants to acquire a stake in the Chinese state-run logistics firm, Sinotrans, a board member of the German group said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday.

"We've expressed our strong interest in a strategic partnership to the Chinese government," Deutsche Post board member Uwe Doerken told the Financial Times Deutschland.

"We hope that our leading market position and our long- standing joint venture with Sinontrans will make us the preferred candidate for a stake," he added.

FT Deutschland quoted banking sources as saying that the Chinese government wants to sell 38.5 percent of Sinotrans this spring in a deal valued at up to US$500 million (476 million euros).

Most of the stake would be sold to institutional investors, but about 10 percent would be sold to strategic investors with whom Sinotrans already operated a joint venture, the newspaper said. -- AFP

;AFP; ANPAf..u.. Japan-US-bank sched-2ndlead Goldman Sachs to inject 1.3 billion dollars into Japan's SMFG JP/JAPAN

Goldman Sachs to inject 1.3 billion dollars into Japan's SMFG by Fumiko Dobashi ATTENTION - ADDS press conference, analyst comment, background ///

TOKYO, Jan 15 (AFP) - US investment bank Goldman Sachs said Wednesday it will invest 1.3 billion dollars in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) preference shares to boost the Japanese lender's weak capital. SMFG, the world's second largest bank in terms of assets, in return for the 150.3 billion yen investment will provide guarantees worth one billion dollars for Goldman Sachs loans to its clients. Both firms also pledged to work more closely to help SMFG write off massive non-performing loans and strengthen its balance sheet. "We welcome Goldman Sachs as an investor and look forward to extending the ties between our firms," SMFG president and chief executive Yoshifumi Nishikawa said in a statement. "This investment coupled with our other initiatives will strengthen the financial position of SMFG and enable us to accelerate our program to improve asset quality," he said. Major Japanese banks are under mounting pressure to halve the volume of the bad loans they hold by March 2005 under a drive by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to restore life to the financial system. They are also struggling to keep their capital adequacy ratio -- the percentage of capital backing loans -- above the international threshold of eight percent, amid fears of being nationalised by the government. Last month, SMFG's largest banking unit Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) said it would merge with a smaller affiliate to help cover unrealized losses on stock holdings. Rival UFJ Bank announced a 100 billion yen investment by US brokerage giant Merrill Lynch to help pay for bad loan disposals. Analysts expect more money-raising schemes from Japan's four mega-banks in the run up to the financial year end on March 31. Under the latest deal, which is due to be finalized next month subject to regulatory approval, Goldman Sachs will buy 50,100 SMFG preference shares with an annual cash dividend of 4.5 percent. The preference stocks can be convertible into ordinary shares after two years and within 25 years. "We view this as an important opportunity to deepen Goldman Sachs' participation in Japan and its markets, and the next step in the long and successful relationship between our organizations," said Henry Paulson, chairman and chief executive of the investment bank. Nishikawa denied speculation Goldman Sachs was trying to take control of the bank as it would not gain voting rights as a result of the deal. He also said SMFG would continue to consider other means to raise capital. "But it is uncertain whether we will decide to do so in this fiscal year or next," he told a press conference. The issuance of preferred shares would help boost SMBC's capital adequacy ratio by between 0.5 and 1.0 percentage points, up from 10.4 percent at the end of September, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. SMBC plans to take a 700 billion yen charge in the current year to March to write off bad loans, the economic daily said. Analysts welcomed SMFG's attempts to boost its capital but were suspicious about Goldman Sachs' true intentions. "It is unlikely that Goldman Sachs is just simply investing, it is not just a bank, it is an investment bank and it probably has some other background reasons," said a banking analyst at a foreign bank who declined to be named. "Just buying SMFG shares does not seem to me to be a good investment." Goldman Sachs has been scooping up Japanese assets in recent months, with troubled retailing giant Daiei announcing earlier Wednesday it would sell four hotels to Goldman for 45.4 billion yen as it struggles to reduce huge debts. dmh-bur/bro

Japan-US-bank AFP

GetAFP 2.10 -- JAN 15, 2003 18:02:47