HSBC, ANZ Panin lend $26m to Techpack Asia

HSBC and ANZ Panin Bank have jointly granted a seven-year loan worth about US$26 million to PT Techpack Asia, which operates a cosmetic packaging plant in Demak, Central Java.

At the signing ceremony for the loan agreement on Monday, it was announced that $17.4 million would be contributed by Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Limited and the remaining $8.7 million by PT ANZ Panin Bank.

At the conference, HSBC's deputy chief executive officer Rakesh Bhatia, ANZ Panin's vice president David Hannam and Techpak Asia's general manager David Tanudisastro refused to reveal the interest rate on the loan.

According to Tanudisastro the loan will be used for purchasing machines and other tools for the production of cosmetic packaging and for expanding Techpak Asia's facilities.

"With this investment, the company expects production capacity to increase by 20 percent by the end of this year," he said.

Techpak is a subsidiary of Pechiney Group, a French multinational corporation listed on New York's and Paris' stock markets. Techpak operates only the Demak plant in Asia while in Europe, and the Americas it runs 25 plants.

Techpak produces cosmetic packages and exports them mostly to American and European companies, such as Estee Lauder, Christian Dior, Guerlain and Clarins. --JP