Fadel invites investors into Golden Key Group

JAKARTA (JP): Fadel Muhammad, one of the new owners of the former Golden Key Group companies, has invited foreign investors to buy into the group's West Java chemical projects.

Fadel said yesterday, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's youngest son, would also join the projects when they came on line.

He said the government had approved PT Serang Industri Utama (SIU) to take over the bankrupt Golden Key Group and its Rp 1.4 trillion (US$590.7 million) debt.

PT Serang Industri Utama (SIU) is 65 percent owned by Fadel, 25 percent by Ramles Manampang and 10 percent by Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita.

"The government approved our proposal three months ago and it showed the government's confidence in us," he said.

Under the agreement SIU will buy the group's eight subsidiaries which were seized by the government.

Five of the projects have yet to be completed. The projects are owned by PT Hamparan Rejeki (80 percent completed), PT Cilegon MWS (80 percent completed), PT Graha Swakarsa Prima (25 percent completed), PT Dinamika Erajaya (60 percent completed).

PT Hamparan will make acrylic fiber, PT Cilegon will be a utilities firm, PT Graha Swakarsa Prima will make styrene monomer and its derivatives, PT Dinamika Erajaya epoxy resin and PVC stabilizer.

The other three have been in production. PT Glassfibindo Indah makes fiber glass, PT Materindo SMW makes molds, dies and jig and PT Sukma Beta Sempurna makes circuit boards.

The former owner of the Golden Key group, Eddy Tansil, was jailed in 1994 for manipulating Rp 1.4 trillion in loans from state-owned Bank Bapindo and several other state banks.

Tansil escaped from his Jakarta jail on May 4 last year and is still at large, believed to be in China.

Fadel said his company would pay the Rp 1.4 trillion debt including interest within 20 years to Bank Bapindo and the other creditors including Bank Bumi Daya, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Exim and Bank Dagang Negara.

"We will soon invest between Rp 10 billion and Rp 15 billion to optimize the operations of PT Glassfibindo Indah, PT Materindo SMW and PT Sukma Beta Sempurna," Fadel said.

He said his group also would invest an extra Rp 100 billion into the plant projects of PT Hamparan Rejeki, PT Cilegon MWS and PT Dinamika Erajaya which are currently under construction.

"Our next program will complete the construction of PT Graha Swakarsa Prima's project with an additional investment of around Rp 200 billion," he said.

Fadel estimated all the chemical projects would be completed by 2000.

He said about Rp 500 billion is additional investments were needed to complete the project, of which Rp 476 billion would come from loans from domestic and foreign banks and the remainder from SIU's equity capital.

The agreement also allowed SIU to set up a new company called PT Serang Komindo Utama to be the holding company for all the eight projects. (09)