Travel firm Sona Topas reschedules $26.5m loan
Travel firm Sona Topas reschedules $26.5m loan
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed travel company PT Sona Topas
Tourism Industry secured on Tuesday a six-year extension period
for US$26.5 million in matured loans for its subsidiary PT Inti
Dufree Promosindo (IDP).
The debt rescheduling agreement with five foreign and three
Indonesian banks requires IDP, the operator of duty free shops in
the country, to make an initial, upfront payment of debt
principal amounting to 15 percent of the total debt, with the
remainder to be settled in six-month installments.
The interest on the remaining debts was set at two percentage
points above the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR) for the
first two years, 2.25 percentage points above SIBOR for the next
two years and 2.5 percentage points above SIBOR for the remaining
two years.
"Our debt negotiations that started last August ran smoothly
and amicably due to the full transparency on our part. This full
cooperation greatly helped our creditors to work out a good
restructuring program both for our business and our creditors,"
Sona Topas vice chairman Tahir said at the signing ceremony.
He added that the negotiations were facilitated by the full
cooperation on the part of IDP in continuing to pay monthly
interest charges, including after the loans matured last October.
"Had we stopped paying, we would have faced tough
negotiations," Tahir said.
The creditors are Sakura Bank Limited, The Royal Bank of
Scotland PLC, PT Bank DBS Buana, Sembawang Capital PTE, PT Bank
Sakura Swadharma, The Sanwa Bank Limited, Schroeder & Co. Inc.
and PT Bank Sumitomo Indonesia.
Sakura Bank acted as the coordinating bank during the
negotiation process.
Sona Topas provided the loans to IDP for financing the
expansion of its duty free shop enterprises in Bali, which
account for 90 percent of its total income.
IDP president Djoni J. Lesmana said the company's net profits,
amounting to Rp 21.4 billion (US$2.9 million) last year based on
an unaudited report, would most likely double this year as a
result of its investment expansion in Bali.
Djoni said despite the economic crisis, IDP managed to book a
net profit of Rp 822 million in 1998.
"We did quite well because our sales are in U.S dollars," he
said.
IDP commands 70 percent of the duty free shopping business in
the country, a business that heavily relies on tourists, he said.
"Some 75 percent of our customers are Japanese, with Koreans,
Taiwan nationals and other foreign tourists making up the
remaining 25 percent, " Djoni said.
Djoni said besides three duty-free shops in Bali, IDP also
owns outlets at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.
"We are now seeking to make Duty Free Shoppers (DFS) of the
United States a strategic investment partner in our business," he
said. (bkm)