Matahari delays FRNs

Matahari delays FRNs

HONG KONG (Reuter): PT Matahari Putra Prima's US$100 million
floating-rate note issue has been shelved until market conditions
improve, bankers said yesterday.

"It's simply been postponed until market conditions improve,"
said a banker close to the deal, adding that Matahari did not
have immediate need of the money.

"So it doesn't really make sense to go out into the market,
where there's a lot of uncertainty (and) they may end up having
to pay a premium," he said.

He said the deal would be relaunched when market conditions
improved, without giving a specific date.

The Matahari Putra Prima deal was being arranged by BT Asia
and Bear Stearns Asia.

Pricing was not announced, but it was expected to pay a coupon
of 210 basis points over the six-month London interbank offered
rate, and there were no put or call options.