Danny Juddin                                                
Phone: (021) 52993134
Email: djuddin@ifc.org

Desmond Dodd
Phone: +852 2509 8183
Email: ddodd@ifc.org


Jakarta, June 6, 2005--The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, today signed an agreement to provide a $24 million loan to PT Astra Otoparts Tbk, which manufactures and distributes automotive components for domestic automotive companies and for the domestic and export replacement market. The loan, one of  the first of its kind, provides the borrower with the option to draw down funds in either US Dollars or Indonesian Rupiah. The loan will support Astra Otoparts’ and its subsidiaries’ efforts to enhance their product and process engineering skills and to strengthen their position in the replacement market.

“The loan supports the development of a local Indonesian company and will help it remain competitive in an increasingly open global marketplace,” said Dimitris Tsitsiragos, the Director of IFC’s Global Manufacturing and Services Department.  IFC’s Country Manager for Indonesia, German Vegarra, added “IFC’s capacity to provide long-term Indonesian Rupiah financing gives Astra Otoparts the ability to avoid foreign exchange risk if needed while helping fuel growth with long-term capital.”

President Director of PT Astra Otoparts, Budi S. Pranoto said, “IFC has trusted Astra Otoparts by providing a loan that will be used for business expansion to meet the increasing demand of car and motorcycle components in Asia.  The amount of Astra Otoparts sales in the first quarter of 2005 has reached 41 percent of the total sales of the previous year and they are expected to increase further.”

PT Astra Otoparts Tbk is an operating holding company with 28 partly and wholly owned affiliates and subsidiaries that manufactures and distributes automotive components.  The Company and its subsidiaries directly employ over 17,000 people.  PT Astra Otoparts is majority owned by PT Astra International Tbk., a large Indonesian group of companies with businesses in automotive, financial services, heavy equipment, agribusiness, information technology and infrastructure.  The whole Astra group employs more than 100,000 people throughout Indonesia.

The mission of the International Finance Corporation (www.ifc.org) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY04, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.