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)