Shoe firm gets loan

Shoe firm gets loan

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): PT Ganda Wangsa Utama, a listed shoe company, got a syndicated loan worth US$20 million yesterday from eight foreign banks with an interest rate of 2.75 percent above Singapore Inter-bank Offered Rate.

"Some 20 percent of the loan will be used to reduce our financial burden in local banks," Ganda Wangsa Utama President J. Soekarno announced after the signing ceremony of the loan.

He pointed out that the other 80 percent will be used to increase its equity and new investments, including the replacement of old machinery.

Listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in August 1993, the company will expand its distribution network with a view to increasing its exports. Currently the company, the producer of Kasogi shoes, has 15 distributors.

With a production base in Sidoarjo, 35 km south of here, the company, with 5,000 employees, expects to generate Rp 115 billion (about $50 million) in sales revenues to make a profit of Rp 12 billion. (13/15)