Indonesia's Bakrie Group to repay $437 million of debt

PT Bakrie & Brothers , the investment arm of Indonesia's Bakrie Group, and affiliate Long Haul Holdings have agreed with creditors a plan to repay $437 million of debt arranged by Credit Suisse , the firm said on Monday.

The company did not say how it would repay the debt, which uses the Bakrie Group's 23.8 percent stake in London-listed coal miner Bumi Plc as collateral.

The Bakrie Group has in the past sought new loans to refinance debt, with family banker Credit Suisse having been a lifeline for a group that defaulted on foreign debts during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

In June, the Bakrie Group, whose scion Aburizal Bakrie has his sights on getting elected as Indonesia's president in 2014, asked creditors for more time to resolve a mid-April covenant breach on the $437 million loan.

The group's debt situation led to heavy stock selling earlier this year of Bumi Plc and Jakarta-listed miner Bumi Resources . Bumi Plc extended losses on Monday to trade down 1.9 percent by 1037 GMT, while Bumi Resources closed flat before the latest announcement.

The stocks have again come under pressure in the past week after Bumi Plc launched a probe into potential irregularities in more than $500 million of funds at its Indonesian subsidiaries, including its 29-percent owned Bumi Resources.

This investigation will weaken Bumi Resources' position in capital markets in the next year, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has said.

(Reporting by Janeman Latul and Andjarsari Paramaditha; Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Mark Potter)