Newbridge mulls sale of RI asset

Newbridge mulls sale of RI asset

HONG KONG (Dow Jones): As it bids this week for the government's share of Indonesian automaker PT Astra International, Newbridge Capital Ltd. is raising the possibility of selling a unit of the car company it bought just over a year ago.

In an effort shed to assets and raise cash amid Indonesia's financial crisis, Astra sold its Advanced Microtronics Technology microchip unit to U.S.-backed Newbridge for $89 million in December 1998.

"The business itself is doing far better than we anticipated," Josefina Shen, a director of the Singapore arm of the U.S. investment fund, said at an investment conference Thursday in

She said Advanced Microtronics' revenue and margins are growing faster than expected, adding that Newbridge anticipates that it will be able to "realize" its investment "fairly soon."

She distributed a chart showing Advanced Microtronics' revenue rose 31 percent last year to an estimated $148.3 million, after gaining 23 percent the year earlier. Earnings was ahead 37 percent at $54.2 million in 1999.

The performance came despite an industry downturn in 1998, and reflected Advanced Microtronics' dominant position, and a strengthening of its management, according to the information provided by Newbridge.

But Newbridge also noted that an appreciating rupiah is "an issue" for Advanced Microtronics.

Commenting after the presentation, Shen told Dow Jones Newswires that "we'd love" to sell Advanced Microtronics. But since timing such a sale is difficult, nothing is imminent.

But the Newbridge official indicated that many of the best deals from the Asian financial crisis, at least for so-called "vulture funds" like Newbridge, may be in the past.