13/08/2012 (Jakarta Post) - PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN III) plans to sell Rp 10 trillion (US$1.06 billion) worth of bonds by the end of this year after its transformation into a holding company of all state-owned plantation companies to finance the holding’s business development.

PTPN III president director Megananda Daryono told reporters in Jakarta over the weekend the firm expected to reach a minimum of Rp 10 trillion of proceeds from the bond sale.

“We are planning to set the proceeds from the bond sale toward the business development of the upcoming plantation holding company, including the plant construction and land expansion,” he said.

The company, headquartered in North Sumatra, had been in consultation with PT Danareksa Sekuritas as the former’s financial advisor in discussing the bond sale plan.

He said that part of the proceeds from the bond sale would finance an oleo chemical construction plant in Sei Mangke, North Sumatra, a project involving PTPN III and PTPN IV, with a total of Rp 2 trillion of  investment.

The oleo chemical plant, which is planned to begin ground breaking by the end of 2012, is planned to start production in 2014 with an initial capacity of producing 2,500 tons of crude palm oil (CPO).

In 2018, the oleo chemical plant is planned to produce a total of 7,500 tons of CPO annually.

Megananda added, however, that the bond offering plan must wait until the issuance of the government regulation transforming the plantation firm into the plantation holding company.

“If the government decides to issue the regulation next year, we will start the bond sale by then,” he said.

The issuance of the regulation has been delayed several times since January.

PTPN has also planned to build a sugar factory in Glenmore district, in Banyuwangi, East Java, a joint venture with PTPN XII, which owns the land. The groundbreaking of the plant is slated in December this year. The sugar factory, however, is not included in the Rp 10 trillion expansion plan.

Separately, Muhamad Zamkhani, deputy minister for primary industry at the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, said that the ministry supported the PTPN III’s bond offering plan to finance other state-owned plantation firms.

He said that the ministry expected the regulation for the plantation holding company could be issued by the end of August.

“We are still waiting for the endorsement from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before it could issue the regulation,” he said.

Earlier this year, the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry appointed PTPN III as the holding company to oversee the country’s plantation industry. Minister Dahlan Iskan  earlier appointed the president director of PTPN IV, Dahlan Harahap, as the holding company’s leader but Harahap said he would withdraw from the business world by the end of this year.

The plan is a part of the ministry’s intent to reduce the amount of state-owned enterprises in 2012 from 141 to 120 through the establishment of holding companies, mergers and acquisitions.

PTPN III, which runs the country’s palm oil and rubber production, will oversee the activities of state-owned plantation firms PTPN I to PTPN XIV.

The 14 plantation firms are engaged in a range of plantation sectors, including sugarcane, rubber, palm oil, cacao, coffee and tea.

State agribusiness firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) was intended to join the merger but the government scrapped the plan in March.

The holding company plan postponed the government’s other plan last year to sell stakes of PTPN III, IV and VII through an initial public offering (IPO) this year. (asa)