Satelindo given $160m in loans for satellites

By I. Christianto

WASHINGTON (JP): Telecommunications operator PT Satelindo has secured loan guarantees worth US$160 million from three leading international banks for the construction and launch of its telecommunications satellites.

Export-Import Bank of the United States is contributing $135 while Credit Lyonnais and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell are providing the other $25 million as equal lenders, underwriters and arrangers.

Satelindo's president Iwa Sewaka said after signing an agreement on the loan guarantee here Thursday that the facility provides long term financing for the construction of Satelindo's Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket, which will be used to launch its Palapa-C satellites, and for purchasing policies from March & McLennan to insure the launching and orbiting of the satellites.

Iwa was speaking with reporters after signing the loan documents with Exim Bank's chairman, Martin Kamarck, Credit Lyonnais executive Jean-Pascal Orcel and Morgan Grenfell executive James Goold.

The signing ceremony at the Decatur House, a building near the White House, was attended by Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Arifin Siregar.

Arifin said that Indosat was the first private Indonesian company to receive such a large loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The American bank usually provides similar facilities only for state-run projects.

Private firms generally get less than $20 million in loans from the bank, he added.

According to Iwa, the loan guarantee will also help smooth Satelindo's plan to list some of its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by 1998.

He refused, however, to disclose the details of Satelindo's listing plan.

Satelindo, set up in January 1994, is the owner and operator of the Palapa-C1 and Palapa-C2 which were respectively launched on Jan. 31 from Cape Canaveral in the United States and on May 15 from Kourou in French Guiana. The two HS-601 satellites were sup plied by Hughes Space Company, a leading U.S. spacecraft manufacturer.

For the $135 million loan, Exim Bank will provide a political risk guarantee for the first 4.5 years to the commercial lenders with a 1.25 percent interest rate over the London Inter-Bank Offered Rates (LIBOR) and extend its comprehensive guarantee for the next 4.5 years with a 0.275 percent interest rate over LIBOR, Iwa said.

Kamarck said that the U.S. Export-Import Bank had so far extended $3 billion in loans to Indonesia, of which about 60 percent has gone to private projects.

Investment

Iwa said that Satelindo, which runs international calls and Global System for Mobile (GSM) cellular telephones, plans to invest $300 million by the end of this year in its telecom munications projects, which include the procurement, launching, insurance and other arrangements of the Palapa-C satellites; the construction of telephone gateways and earth stations; and the establishment of cellular networks.

The company gained $586 million last year when DeTeMobil of Germany acquired 25 percent of its shares. Satelindo is currently 22.5 percent owned by state-owned domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom, 7.5 percent by state-owned international telecommunications company PT Indosat, 25 percent by DeTeMobil and 45 percent by PT Bimagraha Telekomindo.

Bimagraha is majority owned by the Artha Graha Group, which is controlled by businessman Tomy Winata, and Bambang Trihatmodjo's Bimantara Group.

Iwa said that Satelindo is expecting its revenue to be Rp 584.5 billion (approximately $249 million) this year, with a net profit of Rp 55 billion ($23.5 million).