Ometraco asks court for debt payment suspension
JAKARTA (JP): PT Ometraco Multi Artha (OMA), a subsidiary of publicly listed PT Ometraco Corporation, has asked the Jakarta Commercial Court to issue a payment suspension order for its US$140 million debt to a group of local and overseas banks.
In a hearing on Wednesday, presiding Judge Haryono opted to postpone his decision on the request until next week to allow the court to verify submitted company documents.
"We accept the company's filing for a suspension of payment and postpone the hearing until next week," he said.
No date has been set for next week's hearing.
Lawyers representing the company, Tony Budidjaja and Rahmat Bastian of Dermawan & Co., said their client had requested the court to issue a temporary payment suspension order to allow it to renegotiate its debt payments.
"My client filed for the payment suspension to the commercial court on Monday," Tony said after the court's second hearing on the case on Wednesday pitting PT OMA against American Express Bank, the leading bank in the company's consortium of creditors.
American Express Bank filed a bankruptcy suit against PT OMA at the Jakarta Commercial Court on Sept. 7 after the company failed to repay a $140 million loan which matured on July 23.
Other banks in the consortium are Bank BII Commonwealth, Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Pembangunan Indonesia, the Commercial Bank of Korea's Singapore branch, PT Bank Fuji International Indonesia, Industrial and Commercial Bank limited, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Royal Bank of Canada and Singapore's branch of Union De Banques Arabes Et Francaises.
The plaintiff's lawyers, Kitty Sugondo Kramadibrata and Bambang SM Praptomo of Kramadibrata Karim Sani Manuhuruk (KKSM), demanded the court to declare OMA bankrupt in its first hearing on Sept. 17 and sell its assets if the company failed to repay the loan.
The country's new bankruptcy law allows Indonesian debt-ridden companies to file for a suspension of payments if facing a bankruptcy suit. Under the procedure, the court can issue a temporary payment suspension order to allow time for the debtor and its creditors to work out a new payment plan.
If the debtor and its creditors cannot come to an agreement within 270 days, the court must then initiate bankruptcy proceedings.
Should the court decide not to issue a payment suspension order, it must hand down a decision on the bankruptcy suit within 30 days of its file date. Any appeal must also be heard within 30 days of the decision.
The government enacted the new bankruptcy law on Aug. 21 to replace an antiquated law that had been in place since 1906. (aly)