Indofood, Owned By Conglomerate Anthony Salim, Seeks IDR 21 Trillion In Debt, The Money Is To Buy Pinehill

JAKARTA - Food and beverage producer PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk. reportedly preparing to release a public offering of global bonds denominated in US dollars offered to investors outside the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.

Citing a report released by Bloomberg, it is stated that the corporation owned by conglomerate Anthony Salim is planning an offer of 1.5 billion US dollars or equivalent to IDR 21.39 trillion (exchange rate of IDR 14,262).

Meanwhile, based on the disclosure of information submitted to the Indonesia Stock Exchange on May 26, it was stated that the issuer codenamed ICBP would use the funds obtained for the latest corporate action.

"The net proceeds from the planned global bond public offering will be used to finance the repayment of a portion of bank loans related to the acquisition of Pinehill Company Limited", said ICBP Corporate Secretary Gideon A. Putro in a written statement.

Furthermore, Indofood as an instant noodle producer, Indomie is confident that it can obtain financing because it has obtained the results of Baa3 and BBB- ratings, respectively, from Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

Then, in its implementation, the company has appointed eight joint Bookrunners, namely UBS AG Singapore, Deutsche Bank AG Singapore, Mizuho Securities Pte Ltd, SMBC Nikko Capital Market Limited.

Then, DBS Bank Ltd, Mandiri Securities, Natixis Singapore, and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited.

Based on information compiled by the editors, ICBP is believed to have spent no less than 2.99 billion US dollars to annex Pinehill last year.

Corporate action is seen as Indofood's effort to strengthen the company's business. The reason is, Pinehill is also a business entity that produces instant noodles with marketing areas in the Middle East and also the African region. The two regions are also the strategic market share of Indomie cs.

Pinehill itself is a limited company incorporated in the laws of the British Virgin Islands. Some of Pinehill's businesses include manufacturing instant noodles.