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To boost its financial performance and facilitate its efforts
to develop as a global player, Indonesia's largest cement manufacturer,
PT Semen Gresik, has appointed the local unit of global financial
services firm Citi Group as its official financial and banking services
provider.
Under the agreement, Citi Indonesia (Citibank), through its Global
Transaction Services unit, will provide cash and treasury management
services to help manage and simplify Semen Gresik's financial
transactions through services such as real-time virtual accounts,
web-based financial reporting, and liquidity and investment management.
"Efficiency is the key to competing in a globalized world. To compete
as a global player, we need a global partner that can help us with best
practice. It is for this reason that we have teamed up with Citi
Indonesia to fulfill our ambitions," Semen Gresik president director
Dwi Soetjipto said at the signing of the cooperation agreement Friday.
Semen Gresik finance director Cholil Hasan said that the partnership
was also intended to anticipate the company's future plans, such as the
expansion of production and corporate restructuring.
"As a company, we have the strength to become a global player. What we
need now is an equally strong treasury system, infrastructure and human
resource," Cholil said.
Meanwhile, Citi country officer for Indonesia, Peter Eliot, said that
the bank would provide Semen Gresik with efficient cash management and
treasury operations tools so that it could compete on a global scale.
Semen Gresik, which has been listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock
Exchanges since 1991, also includes Semen Padang in West Sumatra and
Semen Tonasa in South Sulawesi. With an annual production capacity of
about 17.1 million tons, Semen Gresik has a market share of about 45
percent in Indonesia. The company also exports part of its production
to a number of countries.
Semen Gresik, Dwi said, planned to build a new plant with a production
capacity of about 5 million tons in order to increase its total
production to more than 23 million tons by 2011.
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