Indonesia's Astra Sedaya plans 600 bln rph bonds

JAKARTA, Feb 13 - Indonesian automotive financing company PT Astra Sedaya Finance plans to offer 600 billion rupiah ($51.02 million) of bonds in March to use for working capital, the company said on Friday.

PT Indo Premier Securities, PT Mandiri Sekuritas, PT HSBC Securities Indonesia and PT ING Securities Indonesia had been appointed to underwrite the bonds, which will be offered between March 18-20, it said in a prospectus published in Bisnis Indonesia newspaper.

The bonds will be divided into four series with maturities ranging from 370 days to 30 months.

The company, 47 percent owned by General Electric Services, a unit of General Electric Co <GE.N>, had not decided the coupon rate for the bonds.

Indonesia's largest automotive distributor, PT Astra International Tbk <ASII.JK>, holds a 44.3 percent stake in the company while PT Sedaya Multi Investama controls the rest.

Astra Sedaya has more than 2 trillion rupiah worth of outstanding bonds, which will mature between February 2009 and September 2011.

Indonesian domestic vehicle sales rose 40 percent to a record high of about 607,805 units last year, against 434,000 units a year earlier, but an industry executive warned last month that sales may fall as much as 57 percent this year as Southeast Asia's biggest economy slows. [ID:nJAK413560]

Most automotive sales in Indonesia are financed by loans. Business has been hurt as interest rates peaked late last year and as banks and finance companies became less willing to lend amid the global financial crisis. ($1 = 11,760 rupiah)