Great River to issue bonds

Great River to issue bonds

JAKARTA: PT Great River International, the country's largest
fashion apparel producer and distributor, announced on Monday
that it would issue five-year bonds worth Rp 300 billion (US$35.7
million), mostly for debt refinancing.

The company said that 80 percent of the bond yield would be
used to refinance its medium- and long-term debts, totaling
around Rp 300 billion. By doing so, the company was expecting to
save up to Rp 80 billion in the next five years.

The remaining 20 percent would be allocated for investment.

The bonds, which carry an indicative interest rate in the
range 14 percent to 15 percent, have received an A- rating with a
stable outlook from rating agency PT Kasnic Credit Rating
Indonesia.

PT Nikko Securities is the underwriter for the issue.

Triumph, Arrow, Kenzo and Elle are among the international
brands produced by the firm.

As of the first semester of this year, the company booked
sales of Rp 251.7 billion. -- JP

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ANPAf..r..
Corporate-Mitsui-Sakhalin
Mitsui wins Sakhalin's $85.5m order
JP/14/brief

Mitsui wins Sakhalin's $85.5m order

TOKYO: Major Japanese trading house Mitsui and Co. Ltd. said on
Monday it had won a 10 billion yen (US$85.5 million) order to
supply steel pipes for the Sakhalin II oil development project in
the Russian Far East.

The some 110,000 tons of pipes, which have already begun to be
shipped, will be used in an 800-kilometer (500 mile) long
pipeline joining oil fields from northern Sakhalin island to a
storage facility near the southern tip, it said.

Some 50,000 tons of piping will be acquired from Russian steel
pipe maker Vyksa, with 60,000 tons to be acquired from Japan's
Nippon Steel, Mitsui said.

Sakhalin II, with $9 billion worth of construction projects,
is one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects ever
undertaken, run by Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Ltd., a joint
venture between Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Mitsui and Mitsubishi
Corp. --AFP

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ANPAf..r..
Corporate-LG-Muslim
LG sells cell phone for Muslim
JP/14/brief

LG sells cell phone for Muslim

SEOUL: South Korea's second largest handset maker, LG Electronics
Inc., said Monday that it has unveiled a new cellular phone
targeting the Islamic world.

LG said the new model, its LG-G5300 phone, has a compass and
location-tracking software to show the direction of Mecca, the
holiest place in Islam, although it can be used for a variety of
directional purposes.

"The new product targets the Islamic world. Using global
positioning system technology, Muslims will be able to pray
toward Mecca in any place," LG spokesman Kim Kyong-Hwan told AFP.

The phone will enable users to point themselves in the
direction of Mecca for prayer, he said.

"This can be used anywhere in the world," he said

Besides Arab countries in the Middle East, LG Electronics said
it would expand its marketing to Muslim customers in Asia.

LG-G5300's will be shipped to Saudi Arabia this week, he said,
adding the phone's retail price was set at about $250. --AFP

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Corporate-GreatRiver-bonds
Chrysler may cut jobs: Report
JP/14/brief

Chrysler may cut jobs: Report

NEW YORK: Chrysler, the troubled U.S. subsidiary of U.S.-German
car giant DaimlerChrysler, could soon announce layoffs, the Wall
Street Journal reported in its online edition late Sunday.

"We are considering a lot of things that will make our company
better," a Chrysler spokesman told the Journal, without going
into details.

Senior DaimlerChrysler executives could discuss the
possibility of job cuts Monday, on the sidelines of the Frankfurt
motor show in Germany, the newspaper said, citing sources
familiar with the issue.

But no decision would be taken before the publication of
Chrysler's third-quarter results, it said.

Chrysler posted an operational loss of 948 million euros
(US$1.05 billion) in the second quarter of 2003, compared to a
profit of 414 million euros ($459 million) in the same period a
year earlier.

And even though DaimlerChrysler says its U.S. arm will chalk
up a small full-year profit, Chrysler has been battered by a
fierce price war with its U.S. competitors, General Motors and
Ford. --AFP