HZ to take stake in Indocement

JAKARTA (JP): PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, the country's leading cement producer, announced on Thursday that its two major shareholders have reached an agreement with the Heidelberger Zement Group (HZ) to sell a stake to the German company.

The publicly listed cement producer said that under conditional agreements signed on Oct.4, the German company may, subject to successful debt restructuring, take a direct or indirect interest in the company.

The two major Indocement shareholders, PT Mekar Perkasa and PT Kaolin Indah Utama have a combined stake of 47 percent in Indocement.

Heidelberger will also participate in Indocement's debt restructuring negotiations with its creditors.

Indocement, part of the Salim Group, is seeking to restructure by year-end US$1.1 billion in debt, owed mostly to foreign commercial banks including Japan's Marubeni Corp. (hen)