PERTAMINA TO ISSUE GLOBAL BONDS WORTH US$1.5B

Jakarta, Feb 9 (ANTARA) - State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will issue global bonds worth US$1 - US$1.5 billion in April 2010, Pertamina director for financial affairs Fredereck ST Siahaan said.

Fredereick said the issuance of the global bonds would be based on the December 2009 financial audit report. "We plan to issue the bonds in April," he told the House Commission for trade affairs on Tuesday.

He said that for the issuance of the Pertamina global bonds, three foreign financial institutions had been appointed as bonds underwriters, namely Citibank, Credit Suisse and HSBC.

The bonds yields will be used to finance the company's investment.

In 2010, Pertamina's capital expenditures were set at Rp46 trillion.

"About 60 percent of the capital expenditures will be financed with funds obtained from the company's internal sources while the remaining 40 percent will be covered with funds taken from the firm's external sources such as bonds' sales and banking loans," he said.

Frederick said that after issuing the global bonds in the dollar currency, Pertamina would also explore the possibility of issuing bonds in the rupiah denomination.

"There is a plan to issue bonds in rupiah currency but the value of the total bonds has yet to be decided," he said.