BLTA to Issue US$200 Million Bonds

PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk (BLTA) will issue US$200 million of senior bonds with the tenor of seven years.

The Finance Director of BLTA Kevin Wong said the company has assigned Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as the arrangers. "We will conduct road show next week," he said in a statement to Singapore Stock Exchange last week.

The Finance Manager of BLTA Chrisnanto Tedjaprawira added that the company will use the cash to buy some ships and to refinance its debts. "We are still calculating the amount [of the debt]."

Before issuing the bonds, Berlian has got the bridging loan from JP Morgan Securities and Deutsche Bank. The company plans to refinance the bridging loans using the cash from the bonds issuance.

Chrisnanto said to me that he did not know on whether the company will increase the bonds if the demand exceeding the offering.

He said the company will offer the bonds in some countries. "We don't know yet about the schedule and the location, but Singapore and Hong Kong are in our list."

The company, with the transaction code of BLTA, has a total of 59 ships with the total capacity of 1.53 million tons, consisting of 36 units of chemical tanker, 16 units of oil tanker, six units of gas tanker, one unit of floating production and storage offloading