Konimex gets $20m loan

Konimex gets $20m loan

SINGAPORE (AFP): France's Banque Nationale de Paris signed an
agreement yesterday to lead manage a US$20 million medium-term
loan for the expansion of a privately-owned Indonesian
pharmaceutical company.

The banks participating in the loan for Solo-based PT Konimex
are the Dutch ABN-AMRO Bank, France's Banque Francaise de
Commerce Exterieure, Belgium's Bank Brussels Lambert and
Indonesian bank PT Bank Niaga.

Bank officials said the loan, which carries an interest rate
of 2.15 percent above the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate,
matured in two years but the lender had the option to extend it
annually for another two years.

Speaking at the loan signing ceremony, Didier Balme, chief
executive of BNP's Singapore branch, said Konimex had grown from
a company with a turnover of $5 million in 1980 to a leading
pharmaceutical firm with sales exceeding $40 million last year.

Konimex director Edijanto Joesoef said the company would use
the funds to expand its confectionery business as well as for
regional expansion.

Confectionery accounts for 36 percent of the company's
turnover last year with pharmaceuticals making up the remaining
64 percent.