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.