Indonesia's Bakrie & Brothers Plans 2011 Bond Sale Next Year

Jakarta. Bakrie & Brothers, the investment holding of Bakrie Group, plans to sell as much as $200 million in bonds next year to refinance its maturing debt, a company executive said. 

“We have not decided on the time frame. It could be in the first or second quarter next year. It will be between $150 to $200 million,’’ Bobby Gafur Umar, president director of Bakrie & Brothers, said on Friday in a telephone interview with the Jakarta Globe. 

The bonds may mature in three or five years, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday. Bobby did not elaborate further. 

According to the company’s financial statement, its total current liabilities in the first nine months of this year were Rp 9.2 trillion ($1.02 billion). Approximately Rp 2.8 trillion of them are short-term debt that needs to be paid soon. 

The company paid Rp 1.3 trillion of its debt as of the end of September and expects to repay another Rp 2 trillion by the end of this year. That would reduce its outstanding debt to Rp 7 trillion by the end of this year. 

Bakrie & Brothers, controlled by Aburizal Bakrie, invests in several large sectors in Indonesia, including coal mining, agribusiness, telecommunications and properties. Among the Bakrie & Brothers units that are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) are Bumi Resources, Bakrie Sumatera Plantation, Bakrieland Development and Bakrie Telecom. 

Bumi Resource Minerals (BRMS), a non-coal unit of Bumi Resources, made its trading debut on the IDX on Thursday and performed favorably. BRMS gained 65 points, or around 10 percent, from its opening price of Rp 635 to Rp 700. 

Shares of Bakrie & Brothers fell 2.8 percent to Rp 70 on Friday from Rp 72 on Thursday.