Comexindo asks for time to negotiate with creditors
JAKARTA (JP): Trading company PT Tirtamas Comexindo has asked the Jakarta Commercial Court to delay the bankruptcy suit filed against it in order to allow it to negotiate with its creditors.
In a statement sent to the court on Thursday, Tirtamas Comexindo president Hashim Djojohadikusumo said his company would likely be able to repay its debts if given ample time to negotiate with its creditors.
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) -- representing the now defunct Bank Tamara -- filed a bankruptcy suit against Tirtamas Comexindo in late December for its failure to repay Rp 38 billion in matured loans to the closed bank.
Tirtamas Comexindo also has outstanding debts totaling Rp 1.5 trillion with a number of other local and foreign banks.
The company, which initially labeled IBRA's bankruptcy suit as abrupt and unexpected, has petitioned the court for a suspension of payment, or a PKPU.
According to the 1998 Law on Bankruptcy, a company facing a bankruptcy suit can temporarily stop the suit by filing a PKPU request with the court.
If the request is approved, the company is given a maximum of 270 days to negotiate a debt restructuring deal with all of its creditors.
However, the reprieve can be ended at any time by a majority vote of the creditors if the borrower fails to show it has the ability and good faith to settle its debts, said insolvency lawyer Andrey Sitanggang from RAN law firm.
If the PKPU period ends without a debt restructuring deal in place, the borrower is automatically declared bankrupt. Furthermore, by being declared bankrupt through the PKPU process, the borrower loses its right to appeal to the Supreme Court, Andrey said.
"One way of proving the borrower has good faith is by repaying some portion of the loan principal to the creditors ahead of the debt restructuring negotiations," Andrey told The Jakarta Post.
Bank Tamara and other local private banks closed by the government have been placed under IBRA's supervision as part of the country's bank restructuring program.
A number of these other local banks under IBRA also have loan exposure to Tirtamas Comexindo, a business unit of the Tirtamas Group owned by the Djojohadikusumo family.
IBRA officials have expressed pessimism in recovering assets from this company because the agency mostly only get personal guarantees from Hashim. One guarantee is nine million shares of PT Semen Cibinong.
In a separate case, the Jakarta Commercial Court earlier this week dismissed IBRA's bankruptcy suit against PT West Kalindo Pulp Papermill, owned by prominent businessmen Thee Ning Khong and Hasan Basuki.
IBRA was representing state Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in the suit.
The court dismissed IBRA's bankruptcy suit on the grounds that the agency had not proved the borrower had at least two creditors. Also, the court ruled that West Kalindo proved it had reached a debt restructuring agreement with BRI.
"There is no matured debt if a debt restructuring agreement has been reached between the two parties," the court verdict said.
The 1998 Law on Bankruptcy stipulates that for a party to be declared bankrupt, the plaintiff must prove that the claimed party has one matured debt and at least two creditors.
IBRA filed the bankruptcy suits against Tirtamas Comexindo and West Kalindo late December, arguing that they were uncooperative in settling their debt to the agency. (udi)