JAKARTA: Indonesian oil company Medco Energi International

JAKARTA: Indonesian oil company Medco Energi International said on Thursday that it will delay plans to issue US$150 million in seven-year bonds due to the looming war in Iraq.

"We have decided to delay the roadshow that was planned" for the end of March, said Tendri Suprianto, a spokesman for the company.

Medco, like many other Indonesian companies, are concerned global investors won't be interested in buying local debt due to the uncertainties of war.

Medco has been trying to raise fresh capital to finance planned acquisitions of oil and gas fields in the country.

The company will resume the bond plans after the Iraq war is over, Tendri said. Medco has named Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS Warburg as lead underwriters for the issue.

The company, which is 34 percent owned by Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production PCL, plans to buy 10 oil and gas fields this year as part of efforts to raise its daily oil and gas output to 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent by 2007 from the current 80,000.

In March last year, Medco issued a $100 million five-year bond via CSFB. -- Dow Jones

Gaz de France records $3.8b profit

PARIS: State-owned gas operator Gaz de France said on Wednesday its net profit rose to 3.612 billion euros (US$3.818 billion) in 2002 from 891 million the previous year, boosted by a huge exceptional gain.

Excluding a large indemnity paid by the government for the cancellation of operator contracts, GDF chairman Pierre Gadonneix said net profit would have fallen six percent to 838 million euros.

Sales meanwhile rose 1.3 percent to 14.546 billion euros, while operating profit rose 15.5 percent to 3.292 billion.

GDF said 19 percent of group sales were generated outside France, close to its target of 20 percent for 2002, and up from 15 percent in 2001.

The company's net debt rose 29 percent to 4.359 billion euros from the end of 2001, while cash flow rose eight percent to 2.409 billion.

The French government is currently working on plans to privatise GDF by opening part of GDF's share capital to private investors in mid-2004. -- AFP

Munich Re will issue bonds

MUNICH, Germany: Munich Re, the biggest reinsurer in the world, said on Thursday it had no plans at present to undertake a capital increase, unlike fellow insurer Allianz, but that it was planning to issue bonds soon in order to strengthen its capital base.

"We are not planning any capital increase at this time," Munich Re said in a statement.

"Rather, we intend shortly to strengthen our capital base via the issue of subordinated bonds."

By doing so, Munich Re "can target new groups of investors outside the stock market worldwide and further strengthen its position on the international reinsurance markets in the present upward phase," the statement said.

Subordinated bonds are debt that rank below other loans or securities with regard to claims on assets or earnings.

In the case of default, creditors with subordinated debt do not get paid out until after the senior debt holders were paid in full. Subordinated debt is therefore more risky than unsubordinated debt. -- AFP

Bundesbank's annual profits drop

FRANKFURT: The Bundesbank saw its profits cut in half last year and the German central bank would transfer only around six billion euros (US$6.4 billion) to the federal government for 2002 compared with 11.2 billion euros in 2001, the financial daily Boersen-Zeitung reported on Thursday.

The main cause for the slump in profits was the low level of interest rates and the weakness of the dollar, the newspaper said, without revealing its sources.

Boersen-Zeitung noted, however, that the 2001 net profit of 11.2 billion euros was the second-highest profit the Bundesbank had chalked up in its history.

The lower profit would have a direct effect on German federal finances.

Under German law, 3.5 billion euros of the central bank's profit flows into the current federal budget, while the rest is used to repay debt of a special fund set up after unification to cover the debts of the former East Germany.

The Bundesbank is scheduled to publish its official 2002 earnings next week. -- AFP

Sun donates $300m in software

NEW DELHI: The chief of U.S.-based computer maker Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealy, on Thursday announced that his company would donate software worth US$300 million to Indian IT students.

"This donation is for giving them access to experiment with our software. The donation will also be with respect to online training for universities and academic use," McNealy told reporters.

He said that he also discussed possible plans for cooperation between his company and the Indian government with Indian Information Technology Minister Arun Shourie here on Thursday.

McNealy also promised more investments in India in future, especially in research and development, and education and training.

The Sun Microsystems chief said both India and China had the potential to become the growth engines for the global economy.

He described the current global outlook as "short of optimism," but said his own company was on sound financial footing. -- AFP

Bank of China doubles profit

HONG KONG: Bank of China (Hong Kong) said on Thursday said net profit in 2002 more than doubled to HK$6.67 billion (US$857 million) after the provisions for bad debts fell by more than half.

Bank of China Hong Kong (Holdings), which is a unit of one of China's big four banks and was listed in Hong Kong in July last year, said operating profit before provisions fell 8.15 percent to HK$12.09 billion during the period.

However, operating profit after provisions rose to HK$9.23 billion from HK$5 billion.

The provisions for bad and doubtful debts fell 61.5 percent to 2.86 billion dollars.

Chairman Liu Mingkang said the group had made "encouraging progress in areas of organizational restructuring, business development, risk management and information technology."

"We also devoted considerable resources to enhancing transparency under the scrutiny of the market, adapting promptly to comply with the various market practices and regulatory requirements application to listed companies," he said. -- AFP