The Jakarta chief of Peregrine Investments Holdings' fixed-income department says he played no role in Indonesian taxi firm Steady Safe's failed bond issue that contributed to last week's collapse of Hong Kong's premier investment bank.
Executives from the Hong Kong office originated and negotiated the deal with Steady Safe chief Jopie Widjaja, according to Djamal Attamimi, the fixed-income managing director at the company's joint venture, Jakarta Peregrine Sewu Securities.
'This office was very lucky not to be involved at all. That was the way the Peregrine system was set up - the Hong Kong fixed-income department handled all offshore deals,' he said.
A clearer picture of Peregrine's single largest exposure from a bond portfolio recorded at US$1.19 billion on October 31 has emerged.
Steady Safe awarded Peregrine the mandate for a three-year US dollar bond issue in April after a two-month courting period with an underwriting commitment to advance up to $150 million, later expanded to $265 million, fixed-income department sources said.
Money was sent during June and July in tranches of up to $50 million against the security of Indonesian promissory notes that Steady Safe was to repay once the proceeds of the offshore bond issue were secured.