Cycle buys more Astra shares

Cycle buys more Astra shares

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore-listed Cycle and Carriage Ltd. (CCL) on Friday said it had entered an agreement to buy an additional 103.61 million shares in Indonesian automotive giant PT Astra International for US$50 million.

CCL said the agreement it entered with Eurasie SAS of the Lazard Asia Fund on May 17 covers shares representing 3.9 percent of the fully diluted share capital of Astra.

The purchase will be funded by CCL's internal resources and an existing long-term borrowing facility, it said in a statement.

"The additional shares underline CCL's commitment to its strategy to expand in the Southeast Asian automobile sector, as well as to diversify its earnings base with Astra International's non-automotive business," CCL said.

CCL led a consortium which in March successfully won a bid for some 1.02 billion shares in Astra from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.

CCL's stake in the acquisition amounts to $310 million for 618 million shares.

The Lazard Asia Fund was a member of the winning consortium which also included the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Pte. Ltd., Bhakti Investama and Batavia Investment Fund II Ltd.