Charoen Pokphand explores bank loans of US$355m
Charoen Pokphand Indonesia (CPIN) is exploring syndicated bank loans of US$355m. The company is looking at bank loans in two currencies – the US dollar and rupiah. Several banks are involved in the transaction, including ANZ, Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, CIMB Niaga, Citi and DBS. The loan duration is five years, consisting of Rp3t (US$205.2m) and US$150m. The interest rates are 150bp above LIBOR for the US$ loan and 250bp above LIBOR for the rupiah loan. Last year, CPIN obtained a syndicated bank loan of US$350m. This year, the company is investing Rp400b to expand into the beverage business. The company will construct a ready-to-drink tea (RDT) factory on a 5-6ha site in the Cikande industrial park to be completed in 2016. The factory will have a capacity of 40,000 bottles of Fiesta White Tea per hour. Currently, Fiesta White Tea is produced through toll manufacturing with a Japanese company. Management expects the Fiesta White Tea to be available in the market within one month. In the beginning, the target markets are Jakarta, West Java, Central Java and East Java. Fiesta White Tea is CPIN’s first beverage product.