Indonesia’s Garuda to seek restructuring of $500-mln Islamic bonds

JAKARTA (Reuters) – National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will seek to restructure $500 million of Islamic bonds due to mature next month, the deputy of the state-owned enterprises ministry said on Friday.

“We plan to ask for restructuring of the maturing global sukuk,” Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said via text message.

“We have engaged with an adviser, who has begun to communicate with bondholders,” he said.

This week, Garuda said in a statement to the Indonesia stock exchange that it was starting “a process of open and constructive dialogue” with its bondholders via an agent.

The company was assessing all options regarding the sukuk and had appointed PJT Partners as its financial adviser, it said.

Garuda also said the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted global travel, had “created an extremely challenging business environment” and the airline had been taking measures to protect its staff, continue to serve customers and manage liquidity.

Wirjoatmodjo said the government had not discussed any capital injection for the airline, which is more than 60%-owned by the state.

Garuda’s chief executive, Irfan Setiaputra, confirmed restructuring of the sukuk was being discussed without elaborating.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Editing by Gayatri Suroyo, Robert Birsel)