PT Polypet receives syndicated loans of $125m
JAKARTA (JP): PT Polypet Karyapersada, a Napan Group subsidiary producing polyethylene terephthalate, yesterday received syndicated loans of US$125 million from 14 international and domestic banks.
The loans were arranged by Chase Manhattan South East Asia Ltd., American Express Bank Ltd. and Citicorp International Limited.
"The interest rate on the loans was set at 1.875 points above the Singapore Inter-bank Offered Rates (SIBOR)," the president of Polypet Karyapersada, Wilson Pribadi, said before signing the loan agreement here.
He said 80 percent of the money would be used to finance the expansion of the company's production and repay existing loans, while the remaining 20 percent will go towards strengthening the company's working capital.
"Under our expansion program, we will increase our production capacity by 30 percent to 78,500 tons per annum from 60,000 tons at present," he said.
Polypet Karyapersada produces polyethylene terephthalate: bottle-grade resins, industrial yarn-grade resins and film-grade resins, at its plant in Cilegon, West Java.
Polypet Karyapersada currently exports 90 percent of its bottle-grade resins to Europe and Australia and sells the remainder to Napan Group companies.
"We sell only 10 percent of our production on the domestic market because our products are relatively new to the Indonesian industry," Wilson said.
Bottle-grade resins are used in the manufacture of plastic bottles.
Wilson said that Indonesia's total output of bottle-grade resins is estimated at 160,000 tons per annum, produced by three firms -- PT Indorama, Bakrie Group and Polypet Karyapersada, while domestic demand is only about 40,000 tons per annum.
He added that his company imports 50 percent of its raw materials -- purified terephthalate acids -- from South Korea and Taiwan. The remaining raw materials are supplied by Pertamina.
He said he was convinced that domestic demand will improve.
Polypet Karyapersada started commercial production last year. (kod)