Datakom names UK firm advisor

Datakom names UK firm advisor

JAKARTA (JP): Multimedia company PT Datakom Asia said on
Thursday it had appointed PT Rothschild Indonesia, a subsidiary
of a London-based financial adviser, to help in the restructuring
of its US$440.6 million in debts.

Datakom president Pri Sulistio said Rothschild would assist in
assessing the company's debt problem and designing debt
restructuring proposals.

"We signed the contract with Rothschild last week and they are
now working on the resolution concept. We expect the concept will
be ready in two weeks to be submitted to IBRA," he said.

The company has a total debt of $440.6 million, comprising
$260 million to offshore bond holders and an $84 million debt to
Bank Central Asia which is currently held by the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA). The remaining $96.9 million includes
debts to programmers, vendors and consultants.

Pri said Rothschild was appointed due to its experience in
devising debt restructuring programs for companies in the
multimedia sector, as well as its reasonable fee.

He said the restructuring concept being prepared by Rothschild
would center on Datakom's offer to settle its debts through a
debt-to-equity swap or rescheduling mechanism.

"We are committed to settling the debt problem. We expect the
debt restructuring program can be completed before the end of the
year," he said, adding that the company began its debt
restructuring program in July last year.

Datakom Asia is a holding company with a number of
subsidiaries, including television station SCTV, broadcasting
satellite operator PT Media Citra Indostar, cable television
system Indovision, finance company PT Indofinance and
postproduction house PT Postindo.

Pri said a large part of Datakom's total debt, or around $105
million, was used to finance Media Citra's Cakrawarta-1
satellite, which was launched in 1997.

He said the company was upbeat its debt restructuring program
would proceed smoothly and quickly because its foreign creditors,
most of which were financial institutions that hold Datakom's
bonds, were supportive.

"Our company will be much better after the debt restructuring
program is finished. We plan to go public in the next one to two
years ... if the economic and political conditions here are
already recovered," he said.

He said it would be preferable to offer the shares in New York
because investors there were more eager to buy shares of
multimedia and high-technology companies. (cst)