DKB to fund RI project

DKB to fund RI project

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (DKB) has set up an
international loan syndicate to finance a project to build and
operate a telephone network in Indonesia, a press report said
Wednesday.

The industrial newspaper Nihon Kogyo Shimbun said the 25-bank
syndicate would extend US$480 million over nine-and-a-half years
for the 840 million dollar project.

The project has been undertaken by Japan's Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone Corp. (NTT) and other companies, the newspaper
said.

It added that the syndicate was lead-managed by DKB, Deutsche
Morgan Grenfell and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)
and included Paribas Bank of France and major Japanese commercial
banks such as Sakura, Sumitomo and Fuji.

The loan arrangement includes a currency swap of $35 million
from local currency to U.S. dollars for proceeds from the phone
business to avoid exchange losses as a result of a possible
decline in the local currency, the rupiah, the newspaper said.

The phone project calls for NTT to build a telephone network
to secure 400, 000 circuits in central Java by the end of March
1999.

DKB aims to win loan deals for telephone projects being
considered by NTT in other parts of Asia, namely Vietnam, the
Philippines, India and China, the newspaper said.