BII Finance wins appeal

BII Finance wins appeal

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court has upheld the Commercial
Court's decision to reject a US$65 million bankruptcy petition
filed by three foreign banks against local finance company PT BII
Finance Center.

According to a court verdict document issued on Monday the
Supreme Court agreed that BII Finance was not obliged to repay
its debt to the plaintiffs under the initial payment schedule,
because it had signed a debt restructuring agreement with them. .

Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation, Credit Agricole
Indosuez of France and Seoul-based Asian Banking Corporation have
arranged three syndicated bank loans totaling $65.3 million for
BII Finance.

The banks jointly filed a bankruptcy claim against BII Finance
to the commercial court in July this year after the latter
refused to repay the loans that matured between Oct. 1998 and
Jan. 1999.

BII, which is a subsidiary of publicly listed Bank
Internasional Indonesia, claimed that it had signed a debt
restructuring agreement with the banks in April this year, but
the banks denied the agreement.

The commercial court ruled in favor of BII Finance in August
this year. The three banks then appealed to the Supreme Court.
(udi)