Multiartha signs restructuring deal

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed finance company PT Sinar Mas Multiartha and its wholly owned PT Sinar Mas Multifinance signed on Wednesday a restructuring agreement for their US$46.7 million Medium-Term Notes (MTNs) with the Asian Banking Corporation of South Korea.

An executive of the South Korean bank, Tae Seon Paik, said the agreement involved a five-year rescheduling of the notes' maturity without a debt reprieve nor an additional grace period.

He said the interest payment would be made semiannually as previously, but the rate was revised from the previous 11 percent per annum to 3 percentage points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).

President of Sinar Mas Multifinance, Francisca Iskandar, said the new agreement required the firm to repay 10 percent of total debts, or $4.67 million, annually beginning this December to 2003.

Repayment of the remaining $23 million would be settled in Nov. 2004 at the end of the notes' maturity, she said.

Multiartha and Multifinance jointly issued notes worth a total of $60 million in 1996, with the Asian Banking Corporation acting as its arranger.

"We have repaid a total of $13.3 million to reduce the outstanding MTN to $46.7 million currently," she said.

Holders of the MTN are local investors as well as those from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, Francisca said.

The company also has bonds worth Rp 300 billion which would mature in 2002, she said.

Sinar Mas Multiartha, listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges, is owned by PT Supra Veritas (18.48 percent), PT Sinarmas Tunggal (15.47 percent), PT Excomm Remadja Limited (14.25 percent), four foreign nominees (37.82 percent) and public (13.98 percent).

She said about 90 percent of the company's revenues came from the factory business, with the remaining 8 percent and 2 percent from leasing and consumer financing respectively. (udi)