Indonesia Business & Trade updates

23 Reports:
(Courtesy Joyo News Service)
- Govt to merge Kimia Farma and Indofarma
- Mandiri Sekuritas Named Advisor To Merge Pharmaceutical Cos
- Bank Negara Indonesia To Repay $200 Mln In Foreign Debts
- Bank Century Off Indonesian Central Bank's Watch List
- Rabobank To Focus Credit Expansion In The Agricultural Sector
- Bapepam to issue new regulation on IPO
- Indonesia Deposit Co Cuts IDR Deposit Rate By 75 BPs -Report
- Indonesia's OCBC NISP To Set Up Sharia Unit
- Indonesian Govt Gives BEI Nod To Issue Bond Valued At $180 Mln
- Govt to streamline services of state airlines
- Indonesia's Lion Air To Buy 2 More Boeing 737-900 Ers
- Indonesian Yarn, Textile Producers Cut Selling Prices Up To 50%
- Biznet Indonesia To Invest $27 Mln In Fiber Optics
- Indonesia's HCPT To Build 3,000 New Units Of BTS
- Indonesia's Intiland Seeking Loan To Refinance Debt
- Semen Tonasa Projected To Produce 5.9 Mln Tons Of Cement In 2011
- Indonesian Cos Set To Amass Us$6.3 Bln In Net Profit This Year
- Alliance Tuna Lifts Stake In Indonesian Cannery To 80%
- Indonesia 2009 Cocoa Grinding Likely Down 40% On Demand -Indus
- Indonesian Co Sinarmas Building New Cooking Oil Factory
- Astra Agro Says Palm Oil Output Falls 11% in First Two Months
- Indonesia's Bangka Province To Revitalize Oil Palm Plantations
- Indonesian Pres Wants S Sulawesi To Benefit From East Asian Devt
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The Jakarta Post (website)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Govt to merge Kimia Farma and Indofarma
The Jakarta Post
The government said Friday that it would merge state-owned drug makers PT Kimia Farma and PT Indofarma as a single company that produces pharmaceutical products. Deputy to State Minister for State Enterprises Muchayat said the ministry had assembled a team to implement the merger. “PT Mandiri Sekuritas has been chosen as the lead advisor in the merger,” Muchayat said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Friday. He added that the ministry was still looking for legal advisors,
accountants and other experts to support the team. (and)
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Mandiri Sekuritas Named Advisor To Merge Pharmaceutical Cos
JAKARTA, March 13 (Dow Jones)--The Indonesian government has named Mandiri Sekuritas, a state-owned securities company, as the lead advisor to merge three state-owned pharmaceutical companies.
The three companies are PT Kimia Farma (KAEF.JK), PT Indofarma (INAF.JK) and unlisted PT Bio Farma. "The merger of the three is expected to be completed later this
year," Muhayat, a deputy to the minister of state enterprise, said Friday. Muhayat told reporters that after the merge a new name will be set as a holding company for the pharmaceutical companies.
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Bank Negara Indonesia To Repay $200 Mln In Foreign Debts JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) (JSX:BBNI) said it will repay foreign debts totaling US$200 million maturing in June and September this year. BNI Treasury and International Relations Director Bien
Subiantoro said the of the state bank will settle the debts with its own foreign exchange fund. The bank owes the debts to Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, and Wachovia Bank, Subiantoro said. BNI has a foreign exchange liquidity of US$800 million more than enough to settle the debt obligations, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily .
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Bank Century Off Indonesian Central Bank's Watch List
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Ailing mid-sized Bank Century has succeeded in increasing its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to 8.63 per cent from a negative 2.3 per cent late last year making it free from Bank Indonesia's watch list. The ailing bank, which has been under surveillance of the central bank for the past three months, now has CAR slightly above the minimum level of 8 per cent, set by the central bank. Maryono, who was named by the government to manage the bank after it was taken over by the Deposit Insurance Corp (LPS) in November, said the third party funds held by Bank Century had also increased from minus Rp2 trillion (US$166 million) to Rp315 billion at present. "Bank Century, facing liquidity problem, was taken over by the government agency, which injected Rp2 trillion in capital that
helped regain the public confidence in the bank," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper The Jakarta Post. The new management has also succeeded in reducing its non performing loan ratio from 16 per cent in December, 2008 to 9.3 per cent and pledged to reduce it further to 6 per cent by the end of this year.
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Rabobank To Focus Credit Expansion In The Agricultural Sector
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Rabobank InternationalIndonesia said it will focus credit expansion more in the agricultural and agribusiness sector this year. Credit for the agricultural and agribusiness sector will make up 80 per cent this year from 65 per cent last year, Kussujanarko, the vice president of the Indonesian subsidiary of the Dutch Rabobank, said. Rabobank Indonesia , which acquired two small banks - Bank Haga and Bank Hagakita - last year will also start expanding its
credit market to the micro or retail business sector, Kussujanarko said. Based on data at Bank Indonesia, Rabobank Indonesia posted Rp9.65 trillion (US$877 million) in outstanding credits by September last
year , up from Rp7.06 trillion a year earlier. A slight increase was also recorded in its assets to Rp10.97 trillion from Rp10.11 trillion but its capital adequacy ratio shrank from 16 per cent to 13 per cent, the newspaper Investor Daily said.
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The Jakarta Post (website) Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bapepam to issue new regulation on IPO
The Jakarta Post
The Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK) will issue a new regulation on initial public offering (IPO) that will include, among others, new time frame for IPO realization. Bapepam chairman Fuad Rahmany said the new time frame basically would allow companies three to six months time to decide on the day for the IPO after receiving a permit from the agency. Previously the agency only allows one day after the permit issuance.
“The draft of the new regulation is ready. We are currently summoning all important stakeholders to contribute to the discussion,” Fuad said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. Fuad added that the new time frame for the IPO was necessary so that companies would not be bound by the agency’s work schedule.
“With the new regulation, companies can make its decision based on the market condition. The time frame should be three to six months at the most. It is not final yet,” he said. However, he said, should the company made a public announcement of the IPO, it could not back track from the plan or to receive a sanction. (and)
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Indonesia Deposit Co Cuts IDR Deposit Rate By 75 BPs -Report
JAKARTA, March 13 (Dow Jones)--The Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation has cut the maximum-guaranteed rupiah-deposit rate by 75 basis points to 8.25% following the recent cut in Bank
Indonesia's key rate, Bisnis Indonesia reported Friday. The state-owned company also cut the maximum-guaranteed US dollar time-deposit rate 25 basis points to 2.75% after a meeting Thursday, the newspaper quoted Firdaus Djaelani, president-director of the company, as saying. The move means that banks offering rates higher than those indicated by the corporation won't be eligible for the insurance
cover.
"The cuts in the (guaranteed rates) are expected to push (commercial banks') lending rates down," Djaelani said. Bank Indonesia, the nation's central bank, earlier this month cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 7.75% to help stimulate the sagging economy.
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Indonesia's OCBC NISP To Set Up Sharia Unit
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - OCBC Indonesia NISP (JSX:NISP) is set to have a sharia unit in operation in the second half of the year to support its plan to expand its banking market in the
small and medium enterprise sector. The bank, which is controlled by OCBC Singapore has set an
expansion target of 15 per cent this year despite the general slump. OCBC NISP President Parwati Surjaudaja said the sharia unit will offer sharia financing service especially in the retail sector and small and medium sized businesses. Currently the bank management is consulting with the Indonesian Ulema Council and setting up its sharia supervision council before seeking the license from Bank Indonesia, Parwati said.
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Indonesian Govt Gives BEI Nod To Issue Bond Valued At $180 Mln
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government has sanctioned plan by PT Bank Ekspor Indonesia (BEI) to issue bond valued at Rp2 trillion (US$180 million) later this year, an official said.
Pariksit Suprapto, a deputy at the office of the state minister for state enterprises , said the amount is larger than Rp1.5 trillion earlier planned by the state export financing bank. BEI has named PT Trimegah Securities and PT Danareksa as the underwriters. BEI will issue the bonds by phases before it is converted into an export financing agency (LPEI) to be named Indonesian Eximbank, Parikesit said.
BEI is to be converted into an LPEI before September 2009, with initial assets of Rp10.2 trillion to be expanded to Rp48 trillion in five years, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.
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The Jakarta Post (website) Saturday, March 14, 2009
Govt to streamline services of state airlines
The Jakarta Post
The State Ministry for State Owned Enterprises said Friday that it would streamline the operation of state firms in the airline transport industry so as to creating greater efficiency in delivering services to the public. Deputy state minister Said Didu told tempointeraktif.com that harmonization would include a streamlining of flight schedules so that each state firm would complement the services of another. “We are aiming to create a synergy in the operation of the airlines so that in the end it could increase state revenue,” Said said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. Airlines that will take part in the harmonization are: PT Garuda Indonesia, PT Merpati Nusantara, PT Pelita Air Services, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, PT Garuda Maintenance Facility, PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura Said hinted that Merpati can serve as a feeder for Garuda’s overseas flights.
“So a passenger can just get one ticket for the travel,” he said. (and)
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Indonesia's Lion Air To Buy 2 More Boeing 737-900 Ers
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's Lion Air plans to buy two more Boeing 737-900 ERs this month, bringing its fleet to 20 planes, its president director said. "Lion Air will go ahead with its rejuvenation program by, among other things, strengthening its fleet including buying Boeing 737-900 ERs," Edward Sirait said in a press statement on Thursday. Currently, the airline company is operating 18 Boeing 737-900 ERs. The two Boeing 737-900 ERs are among 178 such planes the company has ordered from the Boeing Commercial Airplane in the United States. On Wednesday, the Transportation Ministry issued a decision banning Lion Air from operating all its MD-90s for three to four days. The decision came two days after a Lion AirBoeing 737-900 jetliner skidded off the runway at Soekarno-Hatta airport on Monday. The ill-fated plane with 168 passengers on board landed in bad weather marked by heavy rain. There were no casualties in the incident. In response to the ban, Lion Air on Thursday stopped operating all its five MD-90s pending the results of an investigation conducted by the Directorate General of Air Transportation.
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Indonesian Yarn, Textile Producers Cut Selling Prices Up To 50%
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Indonesian producers have offered a big discount the prices for their textile intermediate products in a bid to curb a shrinking share of the export market. The producers of yarns and cloth began to slash their prices by 30-50 per cent on fears of losing a market foothold, textile research center Indotextiles said. Executive Director of Indotextiles Redma Gita Wirawasta said almost all producers of textile intermediate products had cut their prices since early January. "Around 75 per cent of 300 yarn spinning companies and almost all 600 textile makers offer big discount," Redma said, adding some even offered to dispose of their goods at dumping prices. He said the producers were forcedto sell their goods at low prices to reduce large excess in stock yarn. Textile makers had big yarn stocks as they imported a large volume of cotton last year when the prices of yarn and textiles surged on the international market, the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said.
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Biznet Indonesia To Invest $27 Mln In Fiber Optics
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Biznet Network, an internet service provider and operator of fiber optic networks said it will invest up to Rp300 billion (US$27 million) to build new fiber optic networks in the country this year . Biznet President Adi Kusma said the company will build a total of 500 kilometers of fiber optic networks in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali. The market is still wide open for fiber opticnetworks in the country, Adi was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily. Biznet is providing bandwidth service in Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya and soon it will expand to Bali, he said.
Currently the company has 10,000 subscribers in the three largest cities in Java dominated by corporate subscribers including banks, securities companies, logistics and tour and travel operators .
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Indonesia's HCPT To Build 3,000 New Units Of BTS
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - PT Hutchison CP Telecom (HCPT) Indonesia plans to build 3,000 new units of base transceiver station (BTS) bringing the number of its BTS to 9,000 units by the end of this year. Suresh Reddy , HCPT chief executive officer, refused to say the cost of building the new BTS units, but he said the company has set aside US$1 billion for capital spending in four years until 2010. The company, which is 60 per cent owned by PT Hutchison Telecommunications International and 40 per cent by PT Charoen Phokhpand , had no intention to change their investment commitments in Indonesia, despite the economic slowdown. Suresh said. He said the company has succeeded in listing more subscribers , up from 3.6 million in the third quarter of 2008 to 4.5 million by February this year . HCPT is one of the licensed operators of 3G telecommunication service technology , the newspaper Investor Daily said.
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Indonesia's Intiland Seeking Loan To Refinance Debt
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Publicly traded Indonesian property company PT Intiland Development (JSX:DILD) is seeking a loan to refinance a maturing debt this year. Based on its financial report on September 30, 2008 the company had a debt of Rp957.28 billion (US$86 million). Intiland Corporate Secretary Theresia Rustandi, however, refused to give figure for the loan fund the company needs for the refinancing. Theresia told the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia, the company showed good performance in 2008, despite a sluggish sales in the last quarter of that year She said its office buildingsin Jakarta and Surabaya, have high occupancy rates of 87-100 per cent .
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Semen Tonasa Projected To Produce 5.9 Mln Tons Of Cement In 2011
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Indonesian company PT Semen Tonasa is expected to produce 5.9 million tons of cement by the end of 2011 when its new production facility comes on line. The subsidiary of state cement maker PT Semen Gresik is to start construction next month of the new plant with a capacity to turn out 2.5 million tons of cement a year. Semen Tonasa already has three cement factories in operation in the regency of Pangkep, South Sulawesi,
Last year, the company produced an estimated 3.6 million tons , up from 3.2 million tons in the previous year, the newspaper
Bisnis Indonesia said. (ANTARA)
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Indonesian Cos Set To Amass Us$6.3 Bln In Net Profit This Year
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - An Indonesian government official said state companies are projected to aggregate net profit at Rp70 trillion (US$6.3 billion) this year down from Rp74.11 trillion last year.
Muhammad Said Didu, the secretary of the office of the state minister for state enterprises, said the profit target is set lower this year as demands for commodities and oil are weakening. Oil and gas company PT Pertamina is expected to remain the largest contributor to the total net profit accounting for Rp19 trillion -Rp20 trillion , Didu said. The second largest contributor is Bank Rakyat Indonesia, followed by telecommunication company PT Telekommunikasi Indonesia and Bank Mandiri, he said. Last year, 20 companies accounted for 66,495 trillion of the total profit recorded by 138 state companies not including electricity company PLN, which operates with heavy government subsidy , the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said. Didu said was quoted as saying earlier, 11 of the state companies were expected to post losses totaling Rp230 billion He said state companies may spend an aggregate of Rp152 trillion
in capital this year.
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Alliance Tuna Lifts Stake In Indonesian Cannery To 80%
MANILA, March 13 (Dow Jones)--Philippine-based Alliance Tuna International Inc. (TUNA.PH) Friday said it will raise its stake in PT International Alliance Food Indonesia, a cannery in the island of Sulawesi, to 80% from 70%. Alliance Tuna said it will invest an additional $100,000 to raise its stake in the Indonesian cannery, which the firm took over last year. It acquired its 70% stake in the Indonesia
cannery for $722,400. It said the investment will be funded with internally-generated cash. "The projected high returns from the Indonesian operations will ensure (Alliance Tuna's) continued growth and profitability in the future," said Rajat Bailan, Alliance Tuna's corporate information officer, in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
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Indonesia 2009 Cocoa Grinding Likely Down 40% On Demand -Indus
SINGAPORE, March 13 (Dow Jones)--Cocoa grinding in Indonesia is likely to fall by as much as 40% this year as demand for cocoa products shrinks amid the current global economic downturn, an
industry official said Friday. Grinding will probably drop to 100,000 metric tons this year compared with 170,000 tons last year, said Halim Abdul Razak, chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
"Most of the buyers of our cocoa products are in the U.S. and Europe, and the demand situation now is really worrying," he said. Industry participants said that since chocolate isn't a daily necessity, consumption has been nose-diving in the past few months as consumers pinch pennies, which in turn cuts demand for the confection's key ingredient. As chocolate sales slump in Europe and the North America,
grinders in Asia have reduced their operation rates and prices."I've heard about delays of (cocoa bean) shipments to Malaysia last month, and I think there will be more delays because of this terrible situation," Razak said. Indonesia is Asia's largest cocoa exporter and the region's No. 2 grinder after Malaysia as well as the world's third-largest producer. Malaysia sources most of the cocoa beans it processes from Indonesia. Piter Jasman, chairman of Indonesian Cocoa Industry Association
said in early January the country's cocoa output this year is likely to rise by 20% to 600,000 tons.
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Indonesian Co Sinarmas Building New Cooking Oil Factory
JAKARTA, March 13 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's Sinarmas Group said it will have a new cooking oil factory to start operation in Bekasi in July this year with a capacity to produce 1,000 tons
per day. The new factory will increase the daily production capacity of Sinarmas to 3,200 tons of cooking oil with crude palm oil as the basic material, Sinarmas assistant Vice President Octovianus Geuther said. Sinarmas already has two factories - in Surabaya and Medan - with a total production of 2,200 tons of cooking oil per day, Geuther said. The company group also produces margarine and crude palm oil and
part of its production is exported such as to Middle east and other Asean countries , the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said.
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Astra Agro Says Palm Oil Output Falls 11% in First Two Months
By Naila Firdausi
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia’s biggest agricultural company by value, said palm oil output in the first two months of the year dropped 11 percent as its trees yielded less fruit. Crude palm oil production in January and February totaled 148,045 metric tons, compared with 166,137 tons a year ago period, the company said in a statement on its Web site. Astra Agro said its trees produced 2.87 tons of fruit bunches a hectare in the first two months, compared with 3.42 tons a hectare in last year’s period. Palm oil futures on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange have climbed 1.3 percent this month to 1,920 ringgit ($521) a ton yesterday. Futures fell 44 percent in 2008, the first annual decline in four years. Astra Agro fell 0.4 percent to 12,500 rupiah yesterday on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
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Indonesia's Bangka Province To Revitalize Oil Palm Plantations
SUNGAILIAT, Indonesia, March 13 Asia pulse - The Bangka district administration in Indonesia's Bangka-Belitung province is to launch an oil palm plantation revitalization program in cooperation with banks and private enterprises, a spokesman said. "The banks will provide the funds and the private sector will act as developers," local Plantation and Forestry Office spokesperson Meina Lena said here on Thursday. She said Bangka district would open 70 hectares of oil palm plantation area in Mendo Barat subdistrict and a bank was ready to disburse Rp5 billion (US$415,000) in funds. "The people in Mendo Barat subdistrict have an interest in making use of the funds provided by the bank and each family
head will have the right to expand his oil palm plantation by two hectares with credit assistance of Rp37 million per hectare," she said. Meina Lena said the oil palm plantations would be managed through a system already applied by the People's Oil Palm Plantation Group (KKSR). "The system of KKSR was applied in 2004 and it was proven to be successful in increasing the oil palm farmers income," she said.
She added that the credit interest rate from the bank was only 10 per cent per month and the rest would be subsidized by the central government. "We hope the revitalization program will increase the local
people's economy and welfare," she added.
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Indonesian Pres Wants S Sulawesi To Benefit From East Asian Devt
MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi, March 13 Asia pulse - Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked South Sulawesi's authorities and people to benefit from East Asian economic development plans to improve their welfare and economic conditions. "The East Asian region will progress together...I ask that this opportunity not be wasted. Let's benefit from development in the region," the head of state said when visiting the site of the Center Point of Indonesia project at Tanjung Bunga, Makassar, here on Friday. Speaking after he had listened to South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo's expose on the project, Yudhoyono said the Center Point of Indonesia should be beneficial to both businessmen and the public. The Center Point of Indonesia would have nine development objectives such as economic, history, sports, handicrafts, tourism and public businesses. He also hoped that South Sulawesi could benefit from business opportunities in the economic,
tourism and fishery sectors under the framework of the BIMP EAGA (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area), which held a meeting in Thailand recently.
President Yudhoyono was accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, Minister/State Secretary Hatta Radjasa, Communication and Informatics Minister Muhammad Nuh and Energy and Mineral Resource Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro in the working visit to South Sulawesi. After staying for 20 minutes at Tanjung Bunga, the president and his entourage returned to Jakarta.