Duta Pertiwi to issue bonds worth Rp 500b

JAKARTA (JP): PT Duta Pertiwi, a property arm of Sinar Mas Group, will issue five-year bonds worth Rp 500 billion (US$210 million).

The bonds carry a fixed interest rate of between 15.25 percent and 15.65 percent in the first year and a floating rate for the remaining four years.

Bakhtiar Rakhman, director of Trimega Securities -- the lead underwriter for the bond issuance -- said tranche A would carry a fixed rate of between 15.25 and 15.65 percent per annum for five years while tranche B would carry a fixed rate of between 15.25 and 15.65 percent for the first year and a floating rate in the second to fifth years.

The floating rates would be based on the interest of five state banks including Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Expor Impor Indonesia, he said.

He said the company's parent firm Sinar Mas Group would provide a corporate guarantee for the bond issuance.

"Sinar Mas Group will totally guarantee the issuance," he said.

The bonds were rated triple B grade by the state rating agency, PT Pemeringkat Efek Indonesia. "It means the bonds are a good investment," he said.

The director of PT Duta Pertiwi, Anisah Himawan, said the funds from the bond issuance would be used to increase the working capital of subsidiaries of PT Duta Pertiwi.

She said the company would also use the funds to repay bank loans. "To pay the bank interest which is worth Rp 80 billion," she said.

She said Duta Pertiwi had so far accumulated loans worth Rp Rp 1.7 trillion which would mature in the next three years. "Some will mature this year and some next year and some other in 1998," she told media yesterday after the company's public presentation on the bond issuance yesterday.

She did not elaborate on the amount of loans to be repaid this year.

She said the company's unaudited net profit rose to Rp 96 billion in 1996 from Rp 92.15 billion in 1995.

She said the company expected a net earnings growth of between 10 percent and 15 percent this year.

Anisah Himawan said the publicly listed Duta Pertiwi, which had total assets worth Rp 1.9 trillion as of September 1996, was currently developing 29 building projects, including residential and commercial projects.

To finance such projects the company would need around Rp 4 trillion which it expected to raise from loans and its own equity. She did not elaborate.

Among projects to be developed were residential houses in the Jagir area in Surabaya, East Java; Taman Banjar Wijaya in Tangerang; Taman Permata Buana in West Jakarta; Kota Wisata in Cibubur, East Jakarta; and Kota Bunga in Cipanas, West Java.

"Most of the projects are located in Greater Jakarta," she said. (09)