Ricky Putra gets US$30m syndicated loan
Ricky Putra gets US$30m syndicated loan
JAKARTA (JP): Garment producer PT Ricky Putra Globalindo of
the Ricky Group signed yesterday a US$30 million syndicated loan
facility to refinance existing debts and strengthen its
distribution division.
The company's president, Ricky Gunawan, said yesterday he was
confident the loan would not burden the company despite the
rupiah's continued decline against the U.S. dollar, because of
the company's significant earning from exports.
"We always make sure our foreign debt is in line with our
targeted exports, which contributes 30 percent to our total
sales," Ricky said after the loan signing.
He said the company, manufacturer of GT underwear and other
brands of clothing, would start hedging only if the loans in the
dollar exceeded the targeted export value.
Ricky said the sharp increase in domestic interest rates would
not greatly affect the company because loans in rupiah were
relatively small.
"However, a monetary phenomenon like this would definitely
affect business activity because our products are basic needs,"
he said.
"But I'm sure it would only be temporary," he added.
The revolving loan will be arranged by ING Barings and the
Sanwa Bank in Singapore and will carry an interest rate of 1.65
percent above the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR).
Ten banks participated in the loan, including Standard
Chartered Bank, Arab Banking corporation, Creditanstalt
Bankverein, Deutsche Bank, Bank BNP Lippo Indonesia and Tokai
Lippo Bank.
The rupiah has been under attack recently, after the
government floated the currency. It has slipped by nearly 20
percent since then.
The rupiah recovered slightly after the central bank sharply
raised its interest rate, but in the last three days plunged to
almost the same value before the bank raised its interest rate.
Yesterday, the rupiah further dropped to over Rp 3,000 against
the American dollar but recovered slightly in the afternoon to Rp
2,900.
Ricky said his company could obtain the syndicated loan
despite the monetary upheaval, which also hit other neighboring
countries because the loan had been arranged three months in
advance.
Marketing Director of ING Barings in Singapore, Jan Willem
Overwater, said yesterday at the signing he had confidence in
Ricky Putra and believed the current situation would soon return
to normal.
Ricky said 50 percent of the loan would be used to refinance
its debts and the remaining 50 percent to develop its subsidiary
companies throughout the country.
The company has six subsidiary companies to distribute its
products in Java and Sumatra. The company produces about 9.5
million dozens of garments yearly, of which 1.2 million dozen
comprises underwear.
The company's corporate finance director Victor Franziscus
said yesterday his company expected its revenue to reach Rp 143
billion (US$47.66 million) this year, up from Rp 116 billion last
year.
He targeted revenue would continue to rise to Rp 178 billion
next year. (das)