Point to ponder => “I honestly haven’t contacted them but I’m not that surprised about the matter because the rumors about this have already been circling for months,” Hiramsyah Sambudhy Thaib, Bakrieland’s president director, said on Friday
Sent from my XL BlackBerry® "Compassion is the best defence against hate. Wisdom is the best defence against delusion." -----Original Message----- From: Vernichtung <gambler....@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:02:35 To: <obrolan-bandar@yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [ob] Bakrieland Rampungkan 30% Proyek Dubai World Nih yg terbaru, http://thejakartaglobe.com/business/dubais-debt-crisis-could-hit-investment-in-indonesia/344167 Dubai’s Debt Crisis Could Hit Investment in Indonesia Dubai. Investors recoiled from risky assets on Friday and dumped shares in Asian banks and builders, fearing a Dubai debt default could reignite the financial turmoil of the credit crisis. Meanwhile, an analyst said the problems in the emirate could jeopardize Middle Eastern projects in Indonesia. Stocks from Tokyo to Mumbai were haunted by suspicion of lenders’ exposure to Dubai companies that built islands in the Gulf, planned cities from Pakistan to Africa and fashioned the financial hub of the world’s biggest oil exporting region. The Indonesia Stock Market was closed on Friday for the Idul Adha holiday. “This an important reminder that the credit crisis is forgotten but not gone,” said Robert Rennie, a strategist at Westpac Global Markets Group. Asian banks, like their European peers, scrambled to distance themselves from Dubai, a desert emirate that emerged from dusty obscurity to invest in global lenders such as Standard Chartered and lure fund managers with the promise of a tax-free lifestyle. Dubai, part of the oil-exporting United Arab Emirates, said on Wednesday that it would ask creditors of state-owned Dubai World and Nakheel to agree to a standstill on billions of dollars of debt as a first step towards restructuring. Dubai World, the conglomerate that led the emirate’s expansion, had $59 billion of liabilities as of August, most of Dubai’s total debt of $80 billion. Nakheel was the builder of three palm-shaped islands off Dubai. The news shook markets recovering from the collapse of the US housing bubble and contagion that threatened to rupture the global financial system last year. “The panic button’s been hit again,” said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. In Indonesia, Eric Sugandhi, an economist from Standard Chartered Bank, said Dubai World’s debt problem could jeopardize other Middle East investment plans in Indonesia despite their presence “not being too significant” currently. “This is a bad news for our investment plans as Indonesia has been targeting Middle Eastern companies for investment,” he said on Friday. “We may have to look again to every new investment plan from the Middle East as we should question their ability to finance them now.” Analysts expect Dubai World to get financial support from Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s largest emirate and producer of most of its oil. But Dubai may have to abandon an economic model that focused on developing swathes of desert with foreign money and labor. The prospect of a bailout did little to allay concerns among those already worried the global economy may not be recovering quickly enough to justify a near doubling of prices for emerging market stocks and many commodities since March. Dubai’s debt problems are a hangover from a property bubble that imploded after the financial crisis derailed its plans to become a tourist magnet and a regional hub for everything from shipping to entertainment. Banks’ exposure to a Dubai default pales in comparison with the $2.8 trillion in write-downs the International Monetary Fund estimates Western lenders will have to make between 2007 and 2010 as a result of the credit crisis. International banks’ exposure to Dubai World could be as high as $12 billion, sources said. “Similar stories to the one in Dubai are likely to come out, leading risk money to pull out from assets such as commodities and stocks,” said Takahiko Murai of equities at Nozomi Securities in Japan. *Bakrieland Unfazed by Links to Emirate* *Janeman Latul* PT Bakrieland Development, a property company controlled by the politically connected Bakrie family, was not concerned about its partnership with Dubai World subsidiary Limitless Holding, despite Dubai World delaying billions of dollars in debt repayments for six months. “I honestly haven’t contacted them but I’m not that surprised about the matter because the rumors about this have already been circling for months,” Hiramsyah Sambudhy Thaib, Bakrieland’s president director, said on Friday. “It may impact the partnership a bit but I don’t think it will cause major trouble for us.” In 2008, Limitless agreed to buy a 30 percent stake for $110 million in Bakrieland’s city property unit, which is developing the Epicentrum project in Kuningan, South Jakarta. However, as of May Limitless had only paid $37 million and has reportedly been struggling to pay the rest, causing Bakrieland to postpone construction of the 50-story Bakrie Tower. Phase one of the project, including the tower, is scheduled to open in March. “The [Dubai World] debt problem could even advantage us, as they might abandon their other projects in the region and put more focus on our partnership,” Hirmanysah said.
