State banks form lenders club to deal with Texmaco debts
State banks form lenders club to deal with Texmaco debts
JAKARTA (JP): Creditors of the Texmaco Group textile
conglomerate have agreed to form a "lenders club" in a bid to
resolve the group's huge debt problem to four state banks and the
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Minister of Finance
Bambang Sudibyo said on Tuesday.
He said Texmaco owed nearly Rp 16 trillion (about US$2.2
billion) in debts to state Bank BNI, Bank BRI, Bank BTN, Bank
Mandiri and IBRA.
Of the total debt, Rp 9.65 trillion was owed to Bank BNI, Rp
4.23 trillion to Bank BRI, Rp 574 billion to Bank BTN, Rp 463
billion to Bank Mandiri, and the remaining Rp 1.06 trillion to
IBRA.
"They have agreed to form a lenders club," Bambang said,
following a working session with House Commission IX for
financial and development planning affairs.
Bambang said Bank BNI had been appointed to chair the club.
"They have also proposed to continue the restructuring of
Texmaco debts at Bank BNI because they are near completion."
Bambang said he summoned last Saturday the four state banks
and IBRA to his office after President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered
him to seek a solution to the Texmaco debt problem.
He said Texmaco had total assets of Rp 23.25 trillion, and if
compared to its Rp 15.97 trillion loans to the four state banks
and IBRA, the group's loan to asset ratio was 68.7 percent.
"This means that the state money used by Texmaco has enough
collateral," said Bambang, a National Mandate Party (PAN)
executive.
Bambang did not reveal whether he had agreed to any debt
restructuring proposal.
But he said the government did not want the debt problem to
cause a delay in the state bank recapitalization program or to
increase their recapitalization costs.
He also said the restructuring of the Texmaco loans must not
cause Texmaco employees to be laid off.
The restructuring, he added, should not disrupt Texmaco
operations so that none of the 50,000 workers directly employed
and another 100,000 indirectly employed by the group would not
lose jobs.
Texmaco was hit by controversy after State Minister of
Investment and State Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi
revealed to the legislature that the integrated textile giant
obtained $754.1 million plus Rp 1.9 trillion between late 1997
and March 1998 from Bank BNI in a "national level collusion" with
former president Soeharto.
Laksamana said Soeharto personally intervened to allow the
huge loan transaction.
Laksamana, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) executive, also said that the loans, which according
to Bank BNI fall under the category four loan, or doubtful
category, must be transferred to IBRA.
Under the country's bank restructuring and recapitalization
program, all bank debts falling under category five, or non-
performing loans, must be transferred to IBRA.
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman named Texmaco chief
executive officer Marimutu Sinivasan a suspect in the alleged
loan scandal. He imposed a travel ban on Sinivasan, as well as
two other key Texmaco people: Marimutu Manimaren and S. Wairo.
Sinivasan has told the legislature that the business group was
in the process of restructuring its debts to Bank BNI, including
a debt to equity swap option.
He also said that once a restructuring deal had been agreed
upon, Texmaco would list its textile and chemical subsidiaries on
the U.S. Nasdaq bourse. (rei)