Indo-Kodeco financing under way

Indo-Kodeco financing under way

HONG KONG (Reuter): The US$345 million financing for
Indonesia's Indo-Kodeco Cement project has gotten under way,
arranger Fuji Bank Singapore said yesterday.

Indo-Kodeco Cement is a joint venture of South Korea's Korea
Development Co. (Kodeco), Indonesia's Indocement and Japan's
Marubeni. It was set up to build a cement plant in South
Kalimantan.

The fundraising comprises four tranches.

Tranche A is a US$126 million JEXIM (Export-Import Bank of
Japan) loan, while Tranche B is a $84 million JEXIM co-financing
with Japan Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) political risk
coverage.

Tranche C is a $80 million commercial tranche guaranteed by
Marubeni and Tranche D is a $55 million commercial loan.

Tranches B, C and D will be syndicated, the arranger said.

The tenor of the loan is 10 years. Repayment is in semi-annual
equal installments after a few-year grace period for an average
life of around seven years.

The all-in return is about 200 basis points over the London
Interbank Offered Rate. Further details on pricing were not
available.

Banks are asked to participate in each tranche on a pro-rata
basis.

The facility is fully underwritten by eight banks. They are
Fuji Bank Singapore, BNP, Korea Exchange Bank and Mitsubishi
Bank, which will act as arrangers, and LTCB, Mitsubishi Trust,
Sumitomo Bank and WestLB, which will act as co-arrangers.

Roadshows will begin next week in Singapore. Replies from
banks wishing to join the syndication are due Feb. 9.