Indosat, Indonesia’s second largest phone operator, extended a deadline for bondholders to accept its cash offer to buy back notes due in 2010 and 2012 for a third time this month.
The acceptance date of the offer was moved to 23 July from 11 July. It…
Indosat, Indonesia’s second largest phone operator, extended a deadline for bondholders to accept its cash offer to buy back notes due in 2010 and 2012 for a third time this month.
The acceptance date of the offer was moved to 23 July from 11 July. It was originally set for 27 May. The early tender date was pushed to 21 July, while the expiry date was moved to 30 July.
Indosat, controlled by Qatar Telecom, was planning to issue US$500-US$700m of bonds for debt refinancing and capex. Harry Sasongko Tirtotjondro, the firm’s CEO said: “We want to raise about US$500m to US$700m in bonds, but it depends on the balance between volume value and efficiency.”
However, the planned bond issue was put on hold due to weak market sentiment and that the firm was planning to raise funds in the loan market instead. Indosat’s finance director Peter Kuncewicz said the eurozone crisis had increased the likely interest cost for a bond offering.
The funds were to be used to refinance its 4.5tr rupiah (US$496m) debts maturing this year, as well as to partially finance the company’s capital expenditure. The Jakarta-based company plans to spend US$700m to erect more base transceiver stations (BTS) to support its 3.5G services.
Tirtotjondro also said at June’s AGM that the firm is still considering selling its telecommunication tower assets, which have a value of about US$1.9bn.
Indosat held meetings with credit investors in Asia, Europe and the US in May to gauge demand for a global bond sale. Citi, DBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and RBS were hired for the offer.
