Month: December 2016

Indonesian coal producer Bumi Resources to restructure debt, paring down US$ 2 billion via Preemptive Rights offering

Indonesian coal producer PT Bumi Resources Tbk (BUMI) is looking to restructure its finance. The company plans to swap its debts for share, through raising IDR 26.9 trillion (about US$ 2 billion) through a rights offering.

The company will issue up to 29.1 billion new shares which are equivalent to 79.5 percent of its enlarged capital with Preemptive Rights (ER). These 29.1 billion shares will then be sold at about IDR 926 per share.

The transaction is expected to take place in 2017, fetching a total amount of IDR 26.9 trillion – part of the company’s efforts to restructure its US$ 4.2 billion debt.

The debt is intended to be reduced to US$ 1.6 billion, of which US$ 2 billion will be converted into shares, while the remaining will become Mandatory Convertible Bonds (MCB) or mandatory convertible bonds with a seven-years term.

Bumi Resources will use the proceeds to pay off debts to China Investment Corporation (CIC) along with eight other lenders. In an event that shareholders are reluctant to participate, the creditors will absorb all new shares issued, allowing Bumi Resources’ obligations to be converted into shares.

Later, no interests will be converted into shares of the company.

“This way, the old shareholders are given the opportunity to keep their ownership, but at a higher sum than the company’s current stock price. This is already stated in the agreement between the firm and creditors,” said finance director at Bumi Resources, Andrew Beckham, in Jakarta recently.

In the proposal, CIC would control 22.6 percent of Bumi Resources’ shares while 2016 bondholders would get 4.6 percent, and 2017 bondholders would obtain 10.6 percent. Credit Suisse would also get 3.6 percent, UBS 0.8 percent, Axis Bank 0.8 percent, Deutsche Bank 0.7 percent, and Raiffeisen Bank International 1.2 percent.

Bumi Resources primarily exports coal to China, Japan, and India. The Bakrie family-controlled firm supplies 25 percent of its coal to the domestic market and aims to boost coal production up to 100 million tonnes next year following this agreement for a debt-restructuring scheme.

The company forecast its production to increase by 5 percent more with the sales target also increasing by 7 percent in the near future, considering the surging demand for coal in the country as a result of the government’s ambitious electricity procurement programme.

Known as the most indebted coal miner in Southeast Asia, Bumi Resources has spent half the decade trying to reduce its debt.

In August, the company sold 50 percent of its stakes in unit Leap Forward Resources Ltd to two investors – Smart Alliance Ltd and Oceanpro Investments – in a US$ 90 million deal. The transaction was used to repay part of the company’s debts to Axis Bank Ltd, according to corporate secretary Dileep Srivastava.

On Friday, Bumi Resources shares increased by 0.68 percent to close at IDR 296 per share, against a 0.08 percent gain in the broader index.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Singapore’s Senjo Group invests US$1.2 million in B2B startup Tjaara that is to launch in Middle East

Senjō Group, a FinTech investment firm and global payments operator, made an announcement on Thursday, that it has formed a partnership and invested US$1.2 million and an additional US$20 million trade finance in Tjaara Pte, Ltd., a Singapore-based B2B service.

Tjaara, literally translated to marketplace in Arabic has been in the research phase for nearly two years before being incorporated in August 2016 – acting as a global purchaser to unaligned wholesalers and businesses in the market as it aids the process on their behalf.

“Tjaara is a B2B service that offers product search, language translation support, ordering, logistics and finance management. We realised that a lot of smaller and medium-sized retailers were unable to navigate Mandarin-only manufacturer listings or access factory-direct prices.” Fred Then, the co-founder of Tjaara said.

The startup also negotiates, conducts quality control checks from factory to port, and even acts as an escrow service to manage the complicated buying process between Chinese manufacturers and foreign companies. It aims to create a healthy local economy and enabling competitive businesses.

Explaining the process, Fred said, “Tjaara was built to help our end-users unlock a larger variety of products and larger profit margins through economies-of-scale. Unlike typical agents, Tjaara is also able to assist with product evaluation by obtaining samples for end-users; this is possible because of our close relationship with manufacturers.”

Additionally, Tjaara also applies a group-buy concept to aggregate demands from customers to present a large consolidated order to pre-qualified manufacturers. Tjaara’s customers or Channel Partners largely consist of businesses or individuals who wish to monetize their relationships with end-users.

“It is known that Chinese wholesale e-commerce platforms like Alibaba offer lower prices for local purchases, and when non-Chinese IP addresses are detected, the price is typically inflated. This is why Tjaara will always get better pricing as all buying is done locally through our China operations. And by consolidating the orders of small wholesalers, we’ll get more bulk discounts.” Fred adds.

Presently an invite-only platform, the service is only usable by vetted customers and selected channel partners who are allocated 50 complimentary translation requests per month. Tjaara users can view translated listings or request for a search for products.

“We are extremely excited by the generous support offered by Senjō, and their faith in us,” said Fred. “The biggest plus of working with an experienced partner like Senjō is definitely their expertise in payment systems and existing global footprint and connections. This will make our lives a lot easier. We are looking forward to scaling to greater heights with their support.”

Senjō Group is an investment company specialising in global electronic payments, trade finance, and e-commerce. Headquartered in Singapore, it has regional offices in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Luxembourg and the UK, and operations in most major markets across Asia, Europe, North American and Africa.

Senjō Group comprises five business units: Senjō Payments, Senjō Commerce, Senjō Ventures, Senjō Trading and Senjō Finance. As such, this is a complementary investment that synchronises with the firms existing business operations.

Commenting on the investment, Sam Evans, the VP and Head of Ventures of Senjō Group said that Tjaara demonstrates great potential in addressing market inefficiencies, even during less-than-ideal economic times. For even during falling global demands, Tjaara can address the means of SMEs that needs to save cost while maintaining product quality.

The soft launch of the service is slated in Q1 2017, while the plans for a full launch is scheduled in Q2 2017. The business initial market focus will be in the Middle East, or more specifically United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt and North Africa.

A mobile app is also in the works to facilitate easier access.

For more information, please visit http://www.tjaara.com/

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Thai F&N to purchase 5.4% stake owned in Vietnamese major Vinamilk for US$500 million

Thai Fraser & Neave (F&N) has made an announcement late on Wednesday, that it has submitted tenders to purchase another 5.4 percent stake in Vietnam’s largest business, Vinamilk.

The Thai beverage firm is expected to pay at least US$500 million for the 5.4 percent ownership stake of 9 percent Vinamilk shares that Vietnam’s State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has auctioned. SCIC is present on Vinamilk’s management board as the largest shareholder, having 45 percent of its equity.

F&N is currently already a major shareholder at Vinamilk, owning 10.95 percent. But if the deal is done successfully, the group that is currently controlled by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi will increase the percentage of their ownership in Vinamilk to 16.35 percent.

As per Vinamilk’s disclosure, F&NBev Manufacturing and F&N Dairy Investments, two wholly owned subsidiaries of F&N, on December 7 has simultaneously registered their purchase to the Vietnamese securities commission and the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange where Vinamilk is listed as the biggest stock in terms of market capitalisation, for each acquiring 2.7 percent of the dairy company.

This is the maximum percentage each investor is generally allowed to buy in the forthcoming December 12 share auction, where Vietnam has decided to sell the first chunk of the 9 percent from the state ownership in Vinamilk.

December 12 is also the date where SCIC will conduct the public auction to sell the 130.6 million shares of the US$9 billion dairy company at the starting price of VND 144,000 per piece (about US$ 6.36). This translates into a transaction value equivalent to about US$500 million for F&N.

The method of transaction for F&N’s bids will be conducted via public auction, put through transaction and order matching on the stock exchange between December 12 and 10 January 2017, according to Vinamilk announcement.

Earlier August, Lee Meng Tat, CEO of Singapore-based F&N, has revealed to Bloomberg about Vinamilk being the potential target of the F&N Group in the ambition to expand their market share in Southeast Asia, going up against Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Vinamilk shares concluded Wednesday, trading at VND 132,500, declining VND 1,500, that is 1.1 percent compared with the end of the session the day before.

For more information, please visit https://www.vinamilk.com.vn/en

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Calcutta Angel Network and Appliyifi back startup Vehico for providing automobile IoT solutions

Bengaluru-based Vehico that develop an Internet of Things (IoT) solution for the automobile industry has raised an undisclosed amount of angel investment from Calcutta Angel Network and Applyifi, an online platform for startup investments.

The fresh capital was raised in late October and will be used to strengthen the company’s product, scale up their technology infrastructure and for talent acquisition, to expand the team, Abhishek Chatterjee, the Founder and CEO of Vehico said.

Founded in early 2015, Vehico is owned and operated by Metaiot Technologies Ptv. Ltd. Before launching Vehico, Abhishek Chatterjee who graduated from the University of Calcutta has worked with IBM and Tata Steel.

Its flagship product, Vehico Fleet is a telematics-based fleet management and analytics solution which facilitates distance transmission of information that will enable automobile industry and users to remotely control and manage data in vehicles.

It offers fleet owners and car rental companies with real-time insights on the vehicle health as well as the driver behavioral patterns. This information data will allow the user to save money on fuel and vehicle maintenance which will avoid potential accidents.

“Using our predictive analytics enabled dashboard, they can plan, budget, forecast and allocate resources beforehand thus improving the overall efficiency,” Chatterjee said.

The company also offers Vehico Link, a hardware device that similarly collects and monitors the vehicle’s performance data ranging from driver to its surroundings. But the difference lies in part that it runs optimised edge analytics algorithms which will provide a precision point driver performance information.

“Within the next 2 quarters, we are coming up with advanced hardware, product improvements, and an API-based solution which anyone can integrate with their current solution. Our vision behind Vehico is to build a connected transportation ecosystem bringing better safety, security, connectivity and efficiency in the transportation industry,” Chatterjee said.

Vehico had received a small, first tranche of seed investment from the same angels in June this year.

About Vehico:
Vehico develops Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for the automobile industry. The company provides a one-stop solution to all fleet optimization problems through Vehico Fleet, an advanced fleet intelligence and data analytics suite designed for intelligent vehicle tracking, driver performance analytics, smart vehicle diagnostics and problem alerts.

For more information, please visit http://www.vehi-co.com/

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Singapore private university, SIM to invest US$35.1 million to support entrepreneurs in Platform E

A major Singapore private university, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) is investing S$50 million (about US$35.1 million) into an initiative to nurture future entrepreneurs and help scale startups and SMEs.

The programme for aspiring entrepreneurs which turns ideas into businesses is known as Platform E. It will be operating at a 25,000 square feet co-working space at the SIM Management House in Namly Avenue. The place will also be rented out as a commercial co-working space for non-programme participants.

The industry-agnostic programme will seek to train and equip entrepreneurs with the necessary skill sets, incubate business ideas and help startups develop their go-to-market strategies as well as identifying their product market fit. Professional corporate services, peers, investors, mentors will also be brought on board to facilitate the programme.

“SIM will adopt a multi-pronged approach to eventually includes initiatives to facilitate business startups, help small businesses scale up as well as fund promising ventures,” said a spokesperson from SIM.

Heading Platform E is Mr. Alan Wong and Professor Virginia Cha, who are the chief executive and lead programme developer respectively. Alan Wong is a veteran business advisor who has 20 years of handling both entrepreneurial startups and C-level experience in large organisations such as Cable & Wireless and Huawei Devices. While Professor Virginia Cha is an active researcher, educator, mentor and angel investor in Singapore’s entrepreneurship ecosystem with 32 years of an executive management role in technology companies.

“We believe that any good entrepreneurship programme must help the individual acquire deep business and leadership skills, and more importantly, inculcate in him the fortitude to take on and sustain a long and challenging journey,” says Mr. Alan Wong, “Platform E will equip the entrepreneur not just to run his own businesses but to also take on the role of an intrapreneur within an organisation.”

Platform E will launch in April 2017 and the entrepreneurship programme is not only open to fresh graduates, but also to professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who are seeking a career switch. Existing entrepreneurs who meet with roadblocks are also eligible to apply.

The SIM-initiative will feature two entrepreneurship tracks – IntenseE Track and IncubatE Track which are a 12-months and 4-months programme respectively.

The longer programme is aimed at fresh graduates who are new to entrepreneurship or people looking for a career switch, equipping them with the essential know-hows to ideate, start, operate and sustain a business. The programme offers a full suite of solid grounding and will end with a pitch day where participants can showcase their startups.

On the contrary, the four-months programme is designed for mid-journey entrepreneurs who are stuck at roadblocks or have the intention to scale up their businesses. This programmes is made to impart in-depth industry knowledge and practices and will customize electives according to specific needs.

Commenting on Platform E, the Chairman of its Board of Directors and Member of SIM’s Governing Council, Mr. Tan Choon Seng says, “As we move into a future of ever greater market disruptions, entrepreneurship and innovation will be a key engine of economic growth. Platform E is SIM’s first move to support Singapore’s push in the new economy.”

Besides Platform E, SIM’s S$50 million investment will also go towards supporting promising start-ups mainly at pre-seed and seed stage.

For more information, please visit http://platforme.asia/

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

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