BRI gets syndicated loan

BRI gets syndicated loan

SINGAPORE (AFP): Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) yesterday
obtained a syndicated loan of US$87 million, officials said.

"Proceeds from the facility are to finance the bank's general
working capital requirements," the statement said.
The loan is for four years and one month but each lender may
extend the period at the end of two years and one month from the
date of the loan agreement.

Bank Rakyat will pay an interest of one percent per annum
above the annual rate of the Singapore Inter Bank Offered Rate
(SIBOR).

The lead managers are Arab Bank, DKB Merchant Bank
(Singapore), KDB International (Singapore), Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corp., Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and The
Yasuda Trust and Banking Co.

There are 31 other banks participating in the syndicate.
Bank Rakyat is wholly owned by the Indonesian government and has
the largest banking network in the country providing services
throughout the 27 provinces with over 3,500 locations.

Getting tourism publicity

JAKARTA (JP): Travel writers from Europe and Japan will brief
executives of Indonesian tourism-related companies and tourism
officials on the strategy and tactics of getting the most
effective publicity on the print media.

The briefing, organized by Mepco and Purel Mondial, will be
held at a one-day seminar at the Kartika Plaza Beach Hotel, Bali
on May 11, Arifin Hutabarat, the organizer, said yesterday.

Hutabarat said publicity on the print media, including
international and regional ones, is one of the best alternatives
to support tourism promotion.

"However, executives of travel-related businesses and tourism
officials often simply do not know how to get mass media
exposure," he said in referring to the objective of the seminar.
(vin).

Bunas to sell rights stocks

JAKARTA (JP): A special shareholders meeting of PT Bunas
Finance Indonesia, a multi finance company, approved the
company's proposal to offer them 28,829,508 shares with the price
of Rp 1,500 (70 U.S. cents) through a rights issue.

The company's president, Francis Lay, told a press conference
yesterday that 70 percent of the funds to be raised from the
rights issue will be used for expanding the company's leasing
business, 20 percent for consumer financing and the remaining 10
percent for factoring business.

Francis said the shareholders also approved the company's plan
to increase the number of Bunas's branch offices from nine to 11
in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The shareholders also approved Yan Peter Wangkar as the
company's marketing director to replace Danny Firmansjah.(03)

KL to form investment firm

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The Malaysian government is to form a new
investment firm to manage billions of dollars worth of
investments and assets, Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said
yesterday.

The new holding company will replace the government's
investment arm, Minister of Finance Inc. (MoF) and will have its
own board run by professionals instead of civil servants, Anwar
told an informal press briefing.

"The new firm will ensure that the government's burgeoning
assets are managed by full-time professionals," Anwar, who is
also finance minister, said.

Anwar said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would be the
chairman of the board, with himself as deputy.

Anwar said the new entity -- which officials said might be
called Khazanah Holdings -- would have a structure similar to the
Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's main investment arm.

Deputy Finance Minister Mustapa Mohamed said on Monday that
the government had invested 21.7 billion ringgit (US$8.7 billion)
in 1,109 companies mostly in the 1970s after the implementation
of a national policy to enhance commercial participation of
indigenous Malaysians.

The investments accounted for 71.8 percent of the companies'
total paid-up capitals, officials said.

China gets ADB loan

MANILA (AFP): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a
US$78 million loan to China to co-finance a power project in
Guangzhou and an acrylic fiber project in Anhui province, the
Philippines-based lending institution said yesterday.

The loan, comprising a $63 million facility for the Guangzhou
project and $15 million for the fiber project, complements $305
million in loans arranged by the ADB in 1991 and 1993.

The syndicate is composed of the Bank of Tokyo, Fiji Bank, the
Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Mitsui Trust and Banking Co.,
Sanwa International Finance, Sumitomo Bank, Shanghai
International Finance Co., Asahi Bank, the Norinchukin Bank, and
Sakura Bank.

The Guangzhou project will add a second stage of 1,200
megawatts to a $1 billion pumped storage scheme, which will make
it the largest its kind in the world.

It will ease power shortages in Guangdong province when it is
commissioned in 1999, a bank statement said.

Rubber prices advance

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore rubber futures prices were mixed
yesterday with TSR 20 steadier on covering against worries that
Indonesian producers would be unable to ship their rubber,
dealers said.

"Buyers are quite aggressive at the moment," a dealer said,
adding that there were few sellers.

Medan, a major port for shipment of SIR 20 out of Indonesia,
has been hit by workers' riots recently.

At around 0940 GMT, RSS 1 was quoted a cent higher at 148.00
Singapore cents, RSS 3 was down half cent to 92.50 U.S. cents
while TSR 20 gained a cent to 162.00 Singapore cents.

Vietnamese invest overseas

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam is not only receiving big wads of
investment money from Western and Asian firms, its companies are
also putting money into projects overseas, an official newspaper
said yesterday.

The government's investment authority, the State Committee for
Cooperation and Investment (SCCI), has licensed about 20
Vietnamese investment projects abroad in the past five years, the
state-owned trade union newspaper Lao Dong said.

Vietnamese firms have invested in Russia, Hong Kong, Britain,
Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Laos in fields like shipping
services, food production, fishing and processing of maritime
products and production of construction materials, it said.

The biggest investment abroad was US$2 million and the average
was between $300,000 and 700,000, the newspaper said. It gave no
details and SCCI comment was not available.

Official newspapers have earlier reported that the SCCI has
issued 895 licenses for foreign projects in Vietnam valued at
$8.5 billion since 1988 when Hanoi began to lure foreign
investment.

Motorola technology center

CANBERRA (AFP): Industry Minister Peter Cook announced
yesterday that U.S. electronics and mobile telecommunications
giant Motorola would establish a technology center in Australia.

Cook said the move would involve investment, technology
transfer, research and development, and exports of more than
A$400 million (US$280 million) by 2000.

"This substantial initiative by Motorola confirms that
Australia's information technology and telecommunications
industries are of world class standard," he said in a statement.

"The company is planning a major expansion into the Asia-
Pacific region and Australia is set to benefit from that
strategy."

The site had not been chosen but the center would employ 400
research and development engineers by 2000, and was a key element
of a partnership agreement signed with the government.

Under the deal, Motorola would give Australia a prominent role
in its regional development and assist local companies with
exports, Cook said.