Mitra Global to sign loan accord of $480m

JAKARTA (JP): PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia, a private firm responsible for the development of telecommunications networks in Central Java, will sign later this month a US$480 million loan facility extended by overseas banks.

The company's director of finance, Peter I. Pickering, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that the planned loan facility will be extended by 16 banks led by Australian-based ANZ Bank, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Asia and Dai-Ichi Kangyo.

"The number of participating banks may increase, but I can't confirm yet," he said.

He said that the facility will include a $300 million loan and a $180 million standby service.

The state-owned PT Telkom handed over last January the management of its telecommunications networks in Central Java to Mitra Global, one of the five private consortia which won 15-year joint operation contracts with Telkom.

The management contracts were signed last October by the five consortia, who will install some 2.25 million fixed telephone lines and operate them together with existing lines.

Mitra Global, which groups state-owned PT Indosat, Telstra of Australia, NTT, Itochu and Sumitomo of Japan and various domestic companies, is assigned to install 400,000 lines in Central Java.

Before Mitra Global, PT Aria West International signed an agreement with four lead-arrangers to raise US$615 million to finance its project to establish 500,000 telephone lines in West Java by 1999. The loan was extended by a group of 40 international banks led by four-lead arrangers, including the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce-CEF, Chase Manhattan Asia, the Credit Lyonnais and Sanwa Bank.

PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara has also secured a $400 million syndicated loan facility to finance its telecommunications project in Sumatra. The loan was pledged by 31 financial institutions, with Banque Nationale de Paris, Chase Manhattan Asia Limited, the Fuji Bank Limited, International Finance Corporation and Societe Generale Asia Limited acting as arrangers.

PT Daya Mitra, assigned to develop telecommunications networks in Kalimantan, and PT Bukaka Singtel, assigned to develop networks in the eastern provinces, have not yet indicated whether they will sign loan agreements in the near future.

Telecommunications analysts said that the loan facilities for the three companies will secure Telkom's revenues within the 15- year contract period. (icn)