Inco gets $421m loan

JAKARTA (JP): PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco) announced yesterday that it has completed arrangements with a group of international lenders for a US$421.25 million loan to finance its expansion program and the repayment of its existing debt.

The lenders will provide up to $340 million in financing, which may be drawn down over a 3.5 year period. They will also give an additional $81.25 million, which has been drawn down to refinance existing debt, the company said in a statement.

The company previously announced that it needed an investment of $580 million to increase its annual production capacity by 50 percent from 100 million pounds of nickel-in-matte to 150 million pounds.

There was no mention of when the expansion will begin or when it will start operating the new production facility.

It said that it will get the remainder ($240 million) of the program cost from existing cash balances and internally generated funds.

The $340 million loan consists of $200 million from the Export Development Corporation of Canada and $140 million from the Export-Import Bank of Japan. (13)