Multi-financing venture starts operating

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad inaugurated a new joint multi-financing venture, PT KDLC Bancbali Finance (KBF), last night.

The joint venture was set up by Indonesian and South Korean firms with paid-up capital of Rp 15 billion (US$6.86 million).

The new venture is 60 percent owned by the Korean Development Leasing Corporation of South Korea, 23.5 percent by PT Bank Bali and 16.5 percent by the International Finance Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank.

"The venture will deal with leasing, factoring, consumer financing and credit card services," KBF's vice president, Rudy Kusworo, said during the inaugural ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here.

He said his new company is supported by two giant financial institutions which have worldwide networks.

"Our company will start with leasing contracts for machinery and industrial equipment for its early operations," he pointed out.

He is optimistic of gaining a significant share in the Indonesian leasing market because there are now about 300 Korean firms operating in Indonesia, while there are only two Indonesian-Korean finance ventures.

Rudy acknowledged that Indonesia currently has 130 finance companies "but only less than half of them are operating actively."

"Furthermore, only 20 of them are large companies," he said.

Of those large finance companies, 15 are foreign joint ventures, four are private domestic firms and one is a state enterprise.

He estimated that the 20 active leasing companies hold some 70 percent of the total leasing contracts in the country. (fhp)