Sat, 30 Sep 2000

Bintuni to sell ships to pay bond interest

JAKARTA (JP): The annual shareholders' meeting of fishery concern PT Bintuni Minaraya agreed on Friday to sell part of the company's shipping fleet to meet bond interest payments.

"The meeting has decided to authorize management to sell ships if the company's cash flow cannot meet payments on bond interest," Bintuni investor relations officer Dixi Satianagara told a press conference.

According to Dixi, Bintuni owned a fleet of some 700 ships.

He said that the company would sell 10 to 20 ships to pay the US$11.25 million in bond interest due in June and again in December next year.

Bintuni's bonds worth some $270 million will mature in 2007.

Dixi however, did not explain whether the $11.25 million in interest included fines on previous deferred interest payments.

Bintuni is part of the Djajanti Group, a fishery and plantation concern that is one of the largest debtors with the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

The meeting further agreed plans to relocate Bintuni's operations base from its current location in Maluku to Irian Jaya.

Religious fighting in Maluku has prevented Bintuni from operating at 100 percent.

"Because of disturbances at the operations site, the company suffers a deficient in working capital ... if security situations do not improve it will affect the company's continuing operations," Bintuni's press statement said.

The Djajanti group owns another fishery in Irian Jaya where it has established a processing plant.

But according to Dixi, relocating the operations base would cost the company some $30 million.

"We don't know yet where we will get the funds to relocate our operation," he said.

Bintuni has also blamed the riots in Maluku for having caused a delay in submitting the company's 1999 financial report, which resulted in it being delisted from the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX).

The JSX then fined Bintuni and its subsidiary PT Daya Guna Samudra Rp 117 million each, for the late submission of their 1999 financial reports.

Auditors further gave the company a disclaimer for its 1999 financial reports due to uncertainties related to Bintuni's continuing operations.

Bintuni booked a net loss of Rp 444.4 billion in 1999 as against 1998's net profit of Rp 375.9 billion.

Dixi said the company and its affiliate, Daya Gun, planned to relist their shares on the JSX.

He said that although there was no schedule for Bintuni, he expected to see Daya Guna traded again at the JSX sometime next month.

The shareholders' meeting further agreed to appoint Johnson Sihombing as Bintuni's new president, replacing Rudy Lengkong.

Rudy is the company's new commissioner along with Franciscus Xaverius Sudjasmin. Both men replaced BRM Mardjono Poerbonegoro and Anwar Pulukadang as commissioners.(bkm)