Satelindo given $160m in loans for satellites

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).