IFC gives US$9.5m loan to South Pacific Viscose

IFC gives US$9.5m loan to South Pacific Viscose

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm
of the World Bank Group, has signed a US$9.5 million loan
agreement with viscose staple fiber producer PT South Pacific
Viscose (SPV) to finance the latter's two-year capital investment
plan.

The IFC said in a statement that SPV would use the loan to
achieve self-sufficiency in electricity, to modernize its
production facilities to refinance its medium-term debt.

SPV operates one of the largest viscose staple fiber plants in
the world near Purawakarta, about 150 kilometers east of Jakarta.
It is a major supplier to the domestic and regional textile
sector with production equal to 7 percent to 8 percent of the
world's consumption.

It is 42 percent owned by Lenzig AG of Austria, which is the
world's second largest producer of viscose staple fiber.

Viscose staple fiber, made of natural cellulose, is also known
in the textile industry as "artificial cotton".

IFC said it had worked with SPV since 1992. It financed the
company's two recent expansions and led its financial
rescheduling in 2000.