Indofood takeover plan halted

Indofood takeover plan halted

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed food giant PT Indofood Sukses
Makmur has decided to postpone its plan to acquire an affiliated
noodle plant in Saudi Arabia to avoid breaching the capital
market regulations.

The company said in a statement that it had to delay the
planned purchase of noodle plant Pinehill Arabia Food Ltd., owned
by Indofood's controlling shareholder Salim Group, as Indofood
was not prepared to comply with the capital market watch dog's
(Bapepam's) regulations on internal acquisition.

The regulation, among other things, requires that a company
planning to undertake an internal acquisition first has to get
approval from the minority shareholders.

Indofood initially planned to use part of the proceeds from
its Rp 1 trillion bond issuance to finance the Rp 250 billion
acquisition. But the chief executive, Eva Riyanti Hutapea, later
said the company would finance the acquisition with bank loans.

The bonds, which will mature in 2005, will be launched later
this month, carrying fixed coupon rates ranging from 15.75
percent to 16.25 percent per annum.

The bonds received a double A rating with a stable outlook
from rating agency PT Pefindo.

Indofood controls over 80 percent of the domestic noodle
market. (udi)