Indonesia Wins Best Sovereign Bond Deal and Best Project Finance Deal

The Hong-Kong based Alpha Southeast Asia magazine announced last week in Malaysia the winners of its annual Deal & Solution Awards 2011, which aims to recognise the best and most innovative corporate-centric investments and commercial banking solutions in the Southeast Asia region.

The "Best Sovereign Bond Deal in Southeast Asia" in 2011 went to the Republic of Indonesia’s USD2.5 Billion Bonds, which is the largest Global MTN issuance by the Republic of Indonesia to-date. The transaction once again demonstrated the country¿s appeal to US investors, who took up 49% of the deal, while European and Asian accounts came in for 22% and 29%, respectively.

The issue generated strong demand from yield-hungry investors worldwide and was oversubscribed by 2.76x. Local demand generated by local co-managers, Danareksa Sekuritas and Mandiri Sekuritas afforded them accolades in this category.

The "Best Project Finance Deal in Southeast Asia" in 2011 was awarded to Danareksa Sekuritas and Mandiri Sekuritas for their roles as local co-managers with Citi, Credit Suisse and HSBC as joint bookrunners, for Pertamina’s seven year long-awaited US$1.5 dual bond issuance in early 2011.The financing structure included a USD1 billion tranche of 10-year bonds and a USD500 million tranche of 30-year bonds, undertaken in succession. For Indonesian watchers, state-owned Pertamina has come a long way since embarking on a top-down restructuring a few years ago and setting its balance sheet in order.

"These awards reflect the experience and dedication of our team who is committed in delivering the best service to our clients. We also would like to extend our gratitude to our clients, counter parties and stakeholders for their continous support and trust placed in us so far. We really hope to continue our role as well as our positive contribution in the development of the Indonesia Capital Markets," said Mr. Safei, Director, Head of Investment Banking, Mandiri Sekuritas.

Rothschild Indonesia received an award for the "Best Domestic M&A Deal of the Year in Southeast Asia in 2011" for its role as sole financial adviser in the sale of BFI Finance - which finances car, motorcycle and heavy equipment purchases - to Trinugraha Capital & Co. at a value of USD375 million. Larry Sutikno, President Director, Rothschild Indonesia upon receiving the award remarked, "I think this is the first Indonesian deal ever that allowed multiple individual minority portfolio investors to sell their shares as a package in a structured M&A deal to a strategic buyer."

He added, "We faced so many difficulties, dead ends and things we could not control during the process of this deal. However, I believe that if there is a divine purpose in a deal, it will be done, and this award from Alpha Southeast Asia would be a testament to that."

A full write-up including all the winners involved in the transactions and awards rationale for the year 2011 is available in the December/January issue of Alpha Southeast Asia magazine. Alpha Southeast Asia