Sampoerna's debt rescheduled

JAKARTA (JP): Cigarettemaker PT HM Sampoerna announced on Thursday that it had secured approval from its creditors' to reschedule the $140 million outstanding of a $150 million syndicated term loan and revolving credit facility.

The company said in a statement the agreement was signed simultaneously in Singapore and Jakarta and was attended by representatives of the Jakarta Initiative, the Indonesian government-sponsored private debt facilitating agency.

Under the debt agreement, the debt facility will be extended for three-and-a-half years, from June, 1999, to the end of December, 2002.

The facility for rescheduling -- provided by a syndicate of 17 international banks, including the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi -- carries annual interest rates of between 3.2 percent and 3.7 percent above the Inter-bank Offered Rate (SIBOR).

Credit Suisse First Boston will act as the financial advisor.

Rescheduling of the facility follows a substantial reduction of Sampoerna's debt levels, after the company met scheduled debt payments and bought back U.S. bonds.

"After the bond buy-back and the rescheduling of the facility Sampoerna reduced its total borrowings by US$128 million, or 34 percent, from $372 million at the end of 1998 to $244 million as of June 14," the company said in a statement.

The amount of the buy-back represents 34 percent of the company's total debt, the company said.

PT HM Sampoerna is Indonesia's second largest manufacturer of cigarettes.(udi)