'Plans to list Minamas on track'

'Plans to list Minamas on track'

Dow Jones, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian plantation group Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd. on Wednesday said plans to list its Indonesian unit are on track given the unit's improved pretax profit and production levels.

Kumpulan Guthrie Chief Executive Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said 2002 pretax profit at its Indonesia-based Minamas Plantations, was up 30 percent over 2001, at 57 million ringgit.

For the first quarter of this year, the company's pretax profit was 36 million ringgit, he added. Production also rose at the Indonesian company in 2002 from a year earlier, he said.

Guthrie purchased Minamas for US$330 million in November 2000, but only took over the management in April, 2001.

"In 2001, production was much lower, but today, on average, it is exceeding Malaysian production," Abdul Khalid said at a press conference following the group's annual shareholders' meeting.

"We are now preparing the groundwork for that listing," he added, noting the group will likely decide on the timing in the middle of next year.

He added the timing will depend on the political and economic climate in the country, and will likely follow the Indonesian presidential election in 2004.

Previously, the group had targeted mid-2005 for a listing.

Following a listing, around 30 percent of Minamas Plantations will be in public hands, he said.

As part of its 2000 purchase negotiations with the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) around 10 percent of the company will be available to Indonesian investors and employees when Minamas is listed, he said.

Late on Tuesday, the group announced it had refinanced Islamic bonds issued to fund the purchase with a $218 million loan facility. The refinancing will reduce funding costs by around 2 percent per year, the CEO said on Wednesday.

Guthrie recently announced a sweeping restructuring of its Malaysian plantation operations which will result in taking two units private and lowering the shareholding of the government- linked fund Permodalan Nasional Bhd. to just over 60 percent, from 73 percent now.

Abdul Khalid also said shareholders were informed that the group remains at the forefront of tissue culture palm oil technology. At present, Guthrie has around 1,003 cloned trees and is working on reducing a genetic aberration rate of around 30 percent to less than 5 percent.

On a separate topic, the CEO noted the group's planned Guthrie Corridor Expressway, a 25 kilometer 6-lane highway linking several Guthrie housing estates under development close to Kuala Lumpur, will be ready soon. Land purchases have delayed the project, however the civil works are on track, he said.

"We hope by the middle of next year or at least the third quarter of next year, the expressway will be ready for public use," Abdul Khalid said.