IPTN seeks foreign partners and funding

IPTN seeks foreign partners and funding

SINGAPORE (AFP): Troubled Indonesian aircraft builder PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) on Thursday expressed determination to become a key Asian player as it seeks foreign partners and funding.

IPTN President S. Paramajuda said foreigners could theoretically buy 100 percent of the company, which is now undergoing restructuring, but the firm prefers to remain 51 percent Indonesian-owned.

"We are very interested and hoping to attract foreign partners," Paramajuda told AFP at the region's premier air show, Asian Aerospace 2000.

IPTN, once controlled by Indonesia's ex-president B.J. Habibie, had received harsh criticism for the controversial funding it received from the government when Jakarta was gripped by Asia's financial crisis.

In a press conference at the Singapore air show, Paramajuda said IPTN was no longer directly under the ministry of finance but under the holding company of state-owned PT Bahana Pengelola Industri Strategis (BPIS).

He said IPTN was carrying a debt of about Rp 900 billion (US$121.2 million) but was confident of seeing positive growth rates from this year as the restructuring program goes into full force.

Under the slogans "The New IPTN" and "IPTN 2000," Paramajuda said IPTN was determined to become one of the leading aerospace companies in Asia with a core competence in aircraft design, development and manufacturing of small- to medium-sized civilian and military transport aircraft.

He said IPTN was holding talks with several potential foreign partners, whose main concern was the political instability in Indonesia.

"We have the human resources which are capable to develop and produce aircraft. We also have the facilities which match the aircraft industry. So we are talking with the companies with similar size like us," he said,

"The foreign companies, however, are more looking to see what the government does in terms of (political) stability."

Paramajuda said he expected to see limited growth this year due to the restructuring program, but it would pick up starting 2001.

"The growth rate is expected to be very limited, less than 10 percent because it had just started its restructuring program," he said.

"But in year 2001, our target is 20 to 30 percent growth."