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uel trading company PT AKR Corporindo is injecting up to Rp 780 billion (US$60.14 million) of fresh funds into its subsidiary to finance the company'€™s integrated industrial and port estate project in Gresik, East Java.

In a statement published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), AKR Corporindo said it had signed a deed of amendment to increase authorized capital, as well as the issued and paid-up capital of its subsidiary, PT Usaha Era Pratama Nusantara (UEPN).

AKR will boost UEPN'€™s authorized capital from the initial Rp 1 trillion to Rp 2 trillion. It is also injecting additional funds of up to Rp 780 billion for UEPN'€™s issued and paid-up capital, making a total of Rp 1.58 trillion.

AKR Corporindo corporate secretary Suresh Vembu said the additional capital was to help UEPN work on its Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE). The invested funds, Suresh said, were taken from a special budget allocated for the project.

'€œTotal investment needed for the first stage of JIIPE is around Rp 3 trillion. We have secured all the necessary funding, from our equity and syndicated loans,'€ Suresh told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Thursday.

UEPN was tasked with handling the industrial estate project, which is expected to be completed by 2023.

JIIPE, worth between Rp 7 trillion and Rp 8 trillion, will consist of an industrial estate, a port and other supporting facilities, such as a toll road and railroad connections.

The first phase of JIIPE construction, about 800 hectares of a total 1,760 hectares of the estate, entered development and marketing in 2014.

AKR has teamed up with state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Pelindo III) for the construction of the integrated industrial estate through two joint ventures.

For the port, AKR, through UEPN, formed PT Berkah Manyar Sejahtera, in which UEPN and Pelindo hold 40 percent and 60 percent stakes, respectively.

Meanwhile, for the industrial estate, UEPN and Pelindo set up PT Berkah Kawasan Manyar Sejahtera. In the second joint venture, UEPN holds 60 percent ownership, while Pelindo controls the remaining 40 percent.

Suresh said that AKR had sold 27 hectares of land from the industrial estates by the end of last year.

'€œWe are upbeat that we can sell much more this year as the most needed infrastructure, such as roads and so on, is now available to support activities within,'€ he said.

AKR Corporindo has yet to publish its full-year financial report for 2014, however Suresh said his company was upbeat about booking a 20-25 percent increase in its operating profit, despite dwindling oil prices.

This year the company looks to at least book an increase of 15 to 20 percent in operating profit, but this '€” according to Suresh '€” did not include potential income from JIIPE.

As of September, AKR had booked 5.1 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to Rp 16.99 trillion, and a 10.2 percent increase in net profit to Rp 578.65 billion, while its operating profit surged by 30.28 percent to Rp 762.72 billion.

The company aims at disbursing between $35 million and $40 million capital expenditure this year, targeting having 170 fuel stations operating in June. By the end of 2014, the company was operating 131 stations.

Shares of AKR Corporindo '€” listed under the code AKRA on the IDX '€” were sold up around 0.5 percent at
Rp 5,075 a piece at Thursday'€™s closing.

The company is listed under the LQ45 index, a list of the 45 companies with highest market capitalization and transaction value in the last 12 months of trading.