Govt soon to merge 15 plantation firms

The State Enterprises Ministry has announced plans to soon merge 15 state plantation firms under one holding company in efforts to ease efforts to seek funding.

“With more than a dozen of those companies standing on their own, we've seen how difficult it is for them to obtain bank funding,” ministry deputy for strategic restructuring and planning Pandu Djajanto said Monday.

Pandu added that the 15 firms comprised PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia and 14 PT Perkebunan Nusantara.

“[The plan] is still being discussed at the Finance Ministry,” Pandu said, as quoted by Antara.

He added that the merger plan was also aimed at boosting the companies' efficiency, and was part of the ministry's “resizing” program for 2011.

Pandu said the government was also planning to carry out a similar measure with state-owned pharmaceutical and forestry firms.