Indonesia

Indonesia's commercial court has declared budget carrier Batavia Air bankrupt just months after AirAsia, Southeast Asia's top low-cost airline, aborted a deal to invest in it, officials said Thursday, the Associated Press reported. Agus Iskandar, presiding judge at the Jakarta Commercial Court, said a bankruptcy petition filed by U.S.-based International Lease Finance Corporation was approved on Wednesday after Batavia Air failed to pay a $4.7 million debt that was due Dec. 13. Flights abruptly stopped just after midnight, stranding hundreds of passengers across the country.

The Indonesian Supreme Court has granted Telkomsel's appeal and refused the bankruptcy petition against it from PT Prima Jaya Informatika, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said Tuesday, The Business Times reported. SingTel has a 35 per cent interest in the share capital of Telkomsel. Telkom owns the remainder 65 per cent share capital of Telkomsel. On Nov 21, 2012, the Supreme Court granted the Telkomsel appeal and Telkomsel has received the official copy of the decision through the District Court of Central Jakarta on Jan 10, 2013.

PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk creditors, with a combined total of about $125.5 million in claims, filed an involuntary Chapter 11 petition against the Indonesian ship operator, Bloomberg reported. Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund II, Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund, and Gramercy Emerging Markets Fund, all located in Greenwich, Connecticut, filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, according to court papers.

Indonesia's PT Berlian Laju Tanker , the world's third-largest chemical shipper, hopes to restructure its $1.9 billion debt by the year-end and will switch its focus to niche liquid chemical and gas transport, its founder and chairman said in a rare media interview, The Chicago Tribune reported on a Reuters story. The country's leading oil and gas shipper defaulted on several debt instruments earlier this year and has been talking to creditors about restructuring its operations and finances.

A court ruling that Indonesia's biggest mobile phone operator is bankrupt, after not paying a disputed debt of just half a million dollars, has revived concerns over flawed laws that invite abuse and can trip up even highly profitable companies in Southeast Asia's largest economy, CNBC reported on a Reuters story. Analysts and shareholders have brushed the decision aside as one of the quirks of the country's legal system, saying it is almost inevitable that it will be overturned when Telkomsel appeals to the country's supreme court.

Indonesia’s influential Bakrie family is facing another debt crisis after creditors issued a default notice on a $437m loan, triggered by the collapse in the price of London-listed miner Bumi plc shares that had been used to guarantee the loan, the Financial Times reported. People familiar with the transaction say none of the 20 lenders in the syndicate led by Credit Suisse are likely to demand repayment even if the Bakries do not increase their collateral.

Humpuss Sea Transport Pte Ltd., a Singapore-based unit of an Indonesian shipping company, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., Bloomberg reported. The unit of Jakarta-based PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi is already under the control of liquidators in Singapore, where it was incorporated in 1996, according to Monday’s filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Debt and assets were listed at more than $100 million.

Units of Berlian Laju Tanker, Indonesia’s largest oil and gas shipping group, filed for Chapter 15 creditor protection in a US bankruptcy court early Wednesday morning, The Jakarta Globe reported on a Reuters story. The company’s units have listed assets and liabilities in the $50 million to $100 million range, according to a filing with the US bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. Under US bankruptcy laws, Chapter 15 grants a foreign company protection from creditors looking to seize its assets in the country.

An unidentified bondholder last week called for an event of default on Gajah Tunggal's outstanding dollar bonds, raising the possibility of another debt restructuring for the Indonesian tyre maker, Reuters reported on an International Financing Review story. Gajah Tunggal has not defaulted on its interest payments, but one unnamed bondholder has claimed that a Rp42bn (US$4.9m) dividend payment on June 30 constituted a technical breach of covenants on its US$435m due 2014 paper.

Shares of Muhibbah Engineering plunged 20% or 38 sen yesterday on news that Asia Petroleum Hub (APH), a big client that owes money, was in receivership, The Star reported. The stock closed at RM1.52 with 74.35 million shares traded. CIMB Research on its report yesterday said the receivership status for the APH project as reported by a foreign newspaper on Wednesday was a negative surprise. APH had been put under receivership mainly because it could not come up with other investors to help fund the development and repay its debt.