Bank Mandiri Asks Titan Infra Energy To Immediately Resolve Bad Loans Of 450 Million US Dollars

Illustration. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The bad debts of PT Titan Infra Energy, a subsidiary of the Titan Group, worth USD 450 million to a number of syndicated creditors consisting of PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk, PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk, Credit Suisse, and Trafigura have yet to find a bright spot.

Until the agreed deadline of June 30, 2022 passed, the creditors had not yet received the loan restructuring proposal promised by the President Director of PT Titan Infra Energy Darwan Siregar. In fact, to a number of media recently, Darwan is committed to re-opening communication to settle arrears of his obligations to creditors.

Bank Mandiri VP of Corporate Communication Ricky Andriano questioned Titan's good faith in fulfilling his obligations. The reason is, since it stopped paying in installments according to the provisions in force in February 2020, and received a bad credit label from creditors in August 2020, until now Titan has not carried out its obligations according to the initial agreement.

In fact, for the last three years, syndicated creditors have never received audited financial statements from this coal company. In fact, the coal mining company's business operations are running normally, despite the COVID-19 pandemic storm hitting the country.

“The solution for bad credit is actually simple. If Titan has good intentions, pay off the credit immediately or pay the arrears to all syndicated creditors without any excuses," said Ricky in Jakarta, Friday July 1.

Because, based on data received by syndicated creditors, Titan's coal sales reached more than 226 million US dollars in 2020 and increased sharply in 2021 to reach more than 281 million US dollars. This was partly triggered by the trend in world coal prices which continued to climb, from USD 40 per tonne when credit was disbursed in 2018, soaring to USD 400 per tonne in June 2022.

Of course, with coal prices and sales continuing to skyrocket, the syndicated creditors judged that Titan was able to complete its obligations and was not eligible to apply for restructuring on the grounds that it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The syndicated loan participants, as mentioned earlier, are not moneylenders or illegal online loans, but are banks that have high reputations in their respective countries. This means that all decisions that have been agreed upon by the four financial institutions have gone through a thorough assessment process.

"It is impossible for these four financial institutions to abuse their own debtors, because the bank's life is from the debtors," added Ricky.

However, as an intermediary institution, the main source of bank funding comes from customer deposits. That is why banks will try hard for debtors to fulfill their obligations if the debtor has the ability to pay.

On the other hand, if there is a force majeure factor, the bank will of course carry out restructuring in the form of rescheduling payments, discounts, and other relief options. Including, helping to find new investors to ease the burden on debtors.

“The reasons mentioned by Titan are not fulfilled, because the company is still in good shape. In fact, the current price of coal is 10 times the initial price. Of course, the company's ability is there, unless it intends not to pay, aka ngemplang," concluded Ricky.