Sinar Mas helps Amcol

Sinar Mas helps Amcol

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas will inject some of its palm oil estates in Indonesia and a noodle factory in China into troubled Amcol Holdings, the Business Times said yesterday.

The newspaper said the assets to be injected were worth more than Singapore $2.0 billion. It also said Amcol was to be renamed Golden Amcol.

In August, Sinar Mas was named the rescuer of trading and property group Amcol by its judicial managers from Price Waterhouse. The judicial managers could not be immediately reached for comment on the Business Times report.

Amcol was placed under judicial management in July after a Price Waterhouse report said the company had serious cashflow problems and difficulties meeting its financial obligations.

The Business Times said it was not yet known how much of Sinar Mas's palm oil estates, held under its subsidiary Smart Corporation, would be injected into Amcol.

The judicial managers have confirmed that they were negotiating with Funai of Japan to buy over Amcol's 45 percent stake in Funai Electric (Singapore) Pte Ltd (FES) for which it paid S$2.25 million, the Business Times also reported.