HSBC, ANZ Panin lend $26m to Techpack Asia

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