Asset sale not on cards for Bakrie Group: sources

Jakarta

INDONESIA'S mining-to-telecoms conglomerate Bakrie Group will negotiate with creditors to restructure part of its US$8 billion in debt rather than sell major assets, people familiar with its strategy have said.

They say that the group, which has gone through two financial crises since the 1990s, will opt for the tested approach of restructuring debt, even though that risks frustrating increasingly impatient creditors.

Bakrie companies have missed principal or interest payments at least four times in the past two years, and creditors would prefer them to sell assets to raise funds faster.

Some creditors sued one Bakrie company in New York while a Jakarta supplier has asked an Indonesian court to supervise a debt restructu…