And this is valid. Watching schools of candy-floss-colored fish swim by on a snorkelling expedition, or hiking up to the top of a craggy mountain, or flipping slender crepes in a frying pan with a world-class chef, these are the kinds of experiences that can make a trip soar, but at the heart of this, it’s really people who make a trip and a destination stand out.

The Four Seasons brand has always been known for its exemplary service, creating teams who are warm and welcoming but also authentic and approachable. It’s a combination that is easier said than done.

And the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay gets it right on what can only be described as down to the molecular level. Much of the staff has worked at the property since it opened in June 1993. And at the hotel’s sister property in Sayan, Randy Shimabuku, the longtime general manager, made such an impression on a vacationing guest—Barack Obama—that the two spent an entire day together.

Haloed in white sand beaches, Bali is home to more than 20,000 temples, earning its nickname “the island of a thousand temples,” or “the island of the gods.” To this end, Jimbaran Bay, has its own resort temple, where guests can take guided tours with the resort priest, Aji Ngurah, or visit the nearby Goa Gong cave temple for a water purification ritual.

On arrival, guests will find 147 villas, laid out like a traditional Balinese village. The rooms are large and discrete, folding into the surrounding gardens and trees. Once here, be active—via paddleboards, kayaks and the on-site fitness center—or simply reset, courtesy of the resort’s 2,000 square metre Healing Village Spa.

With 10 spa suites, delivering a panoply of top-to-toe treatments, this new haven includes everything from traditional massages to facials and scrubs to more unexpected energy rebalancing treatments influenced by age-old Balinese wisdom.

Spiritual healing is second nature here, from the medicinal properties of indigenous herbs to complex body work. And treatments like the Celestial Light Ritual build on this. Using the vibrations of gemstones, chromotherapy lighting, and resonant singing bowls, guests have their body, mind and emotions lulled into balance. And it is just the kind of intuitive treatment the hotel does best.

It’s not hard to simply stay put at the resort. Meals are flavorful and diverse. There’s the open-air Taman Wantilan, serving a breakfast that seems to tour every cuisine around the world, until 11.00am. Poolside Alu serves tasty bites, like poke bowls and made-to-order chocolate-dipped ice creams.

Sundara at the hotel’s beach club, offers a boozy tapas-style weekend brunch that ripples with flavor; but the standout is Jala, the atmospheric seafood restaurant that wafts scents of satay and lemongrass through the property every evening. The jumble of tastes, from the sizzling garlic to the sweet soy sauce is a memory to be retained.

The location, too, does not go unnoticed. Curved beachfront and powered white sand, outlines the resort, which despite its calm and secluded feel, is only 20 minutes from the airport. Denpasar International Airport has become a global hub, manoeuvring sleek aircrafts from around the world along its runways.

And leading that fleet is Singapore Airlines, the world’s most awarded airline. In 2023, the brand was hailed as among “the 50 most admired companies in the world” by Fortune magazine, and named Airline of the Year at the annual Airline Industry Awards.

Ease and convenience are second nature, regardless of the class. Even in Economy, headrests are adjustable, the comfortable footrest bar is built in. Every seat has a USB charger, and the touch-screen entertainment systems rival the choice available at most traveller’s homes.

Business class seats fold down into soft beds. Or, blink from inside one of the new suites—available on the airlines Airbus A380s—and you could easily mistake it for a tightly packed hotel room.

Travel pulls us from our day-to-day, gives us something to hold on to, as well as to talk about and learn from. But when it’s really done right, it gives us something to dream about.

Source: FORBES

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Sun, Feb 12, 2023 – 05:23 PM

THE Trans-Java toll road, a 1,167 km expressway snaking across Indonesia’s main island, is meant to be part of President Joko Widodo’s legacy-defining infrastructure push that helps bring the country’s economy into the 21st century.

Yet for those who follow the nation’s debt markets, the project – and other big ticket investments like it – are also a testament to the dramatic spending spree over the past decade by Indonesia’s largest builders and developers, many of which are now highly levered and face looming maturities.

The country’s top four construction firms – including the toll road’s main builder, state-owned PT Waskita Karya – have seen their total debt surge more than 12-fold to roughly 130 trillion rupiah (S$11 billion) since Jokowi, as the president is known, took office. Despite restructuring 29 trillion rupiah of bank loans in 2021, Waskita Karya has appealed to Jakarta for a fresh capital injection. Private property-development companies are also juggling mounting obligations, just as rising interest rates sap demand.

The struggles are already reminding some analysts and investors of the high-profile debt debacles in China and South Korea last year, which were centred on the nations’ developers. And while they’re quick to note significant differences, a few warn that it may only be a matter of time before the financial strain spreads even further among Indonesian firms, fuelling another potential hotbed of distress in Asia.

“The amount of debt that has been accumulated by construction companies in Indonesia draws similarities to what has happened in other countries, such as China’s property sector,” said John Teja, president director of PT Ciptadana Sekuritas Asia. “Something has to be done this year or the problem could spread to other sectors like suppliers and vendors.”

Waskita Karya’s debt woes could quickly come to a head. It has 2.3 trillion rupiah of local bonds maturing later this month and another 2.4 trillion due by May 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

When asked about the company’s broad debt situation, president-director Destiawan Soewardjono said: “I’m looking for long-term financing from abroad so we have more breathing space and time to rearrange our finances.”

Concerning the upcoming bond maturities this year, Soewardjono said that the company “will make every effort to settle the obligations and continue to coordinate intensively with stakeholders and related ministries”.

The company is seeking to resume a delayed three trillion rupiah rights issue to the government by mid-year, while reviewing its restructuring agreement with bank lenders, and enter strategic partnerships for its toll road assets in order to improve liquidity and cut its debt load.

“We are pushing for a fundamental restructuring” of the company, said Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, deputy minister of State-Owned Enterprises, when asked about Waskita Karya.

The company, which trades on the Indonesia stock exchange but is majority owned by the government, competes with a handful of other state-backed firms for public contracts to build and often run infrastructure projects like dams and rail lines worth trillions of rupiah. Working capital needs are intense, and in recent years Waskita Karya and others have struggled to manage mismatches between payments to subcontractors and disbursements from the government.

In 2021, the firm restructured 29 trillion rupiah of loans, mostly with state-owned lenders. The following year, unit PT Waskita Beton Precast, which had trillions of rupiah in liabilities, entered a separate debt restructuring.

Waskita Karya’s long-term liabilities reached an all-time high of 62 trillion rupiah at the end of its fiscal third quarter, and its financial charges, which include interest expenses on its bonds and loans, were more than three times its gross profit.

Ballooning obligations pushed the company’s total debt-to-equity ratio to 440 per cent as at end-2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with 42 per cent for state-owned PT Semen Indonesia, the nation’s largest cement producer, and 37 per cent for PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical, one of the largest petrochemical producers in South-east Asia.

Indonesian credit rating firm Pefindo downgraded the company to BBB- from BBB last month and put it under watch for further cuts, citing repayment risks tied to its upcoming bond maturity.

“Despite the recent downgrade and deteriorating operating conditions of Waskita, I don’t think it would be in the government’s interest to let this company fail,” said Teddy Hariyanto, senior credit analyst at PT Mandiri Sekuritas. “With its sheer size, its failure could cause significant contagion risks.”

Waskita Karya is hardly the only firm facing financial stress.

Developer PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka, which runs an industrial complex east of Jakarta roughly the size of Manhattan, in December completed a distressed exchange with holders of US dollar bonds due in 2023 that allowed it to extend the debt’s maturity until 2027.

The new notes trade at about 77 cents on the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Residential property developers are feeling the strain, too. The likes of PT Lippo Karawaci and PT Agung Podomoro are juggling significant debt loads and weakening sales amid higher interest rates, inflation, and slowing economic activity, according to Hasira De Silva, a senior director at Fitch Ratings.

“Operating cash flows will come under pressure, driving up leverage. The strong cash collections we saw in the last two years from the loosening of mortgage disbursement rules will normalise, while costs will remain elevated and interest payments will rise,” De Silva said.

Lippo earlier this month bought back dollar bonds due in 2025 and 2026 for as low as 74 cents on the dollar via a tender offer after they plunged into distressed territory. Agung Podomoro’s dollar debt due in 2024 has rallied in recent weeks, but is still trading in the 50 cent range, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ting Meng, a senior credit strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, said that the sector is ripe for credit stress.

“Indonesian and Vietnamese property markets present the biggest risks for investors in the Asian corporate bond market,” Meng said.

Representatives for Jababeka didn’t respond to requests for comment, while calls and texts to a spokesperson of Agung Podomoro went unanswered. Randi Bayu Prathama, head of investor relations for Lippo Karawaci, said “all the company’s efforts and plans have been disclosed previously in earnings calls and required disclosures”.

Even if Waskita Karya is able to generate additional funds via a rights issue later this year, some market watchers say it’s a stopgap measure at best.

The company last year originally sought to raise seven trillion rupiah, three trillion rupiah of which would have come via the government. That was postponed after the firm’s stock price tanked 29 per cent in the fourth quarter. The company has also cancelled previous plans to issue 3.9 trillion rupiah of local debt, according to Soewardjono. Waskita Karya’s shares have rebounded almost 27 per cent since hitting an all-time low on Jan 11.

“State construction companies are in dire need of fresh funding or a capital injection from the government,” Ciptadana Sekuritas Asia’s Teja said. “The three trillion rupiah injection to Waskita will only be good for a short-term, band-aid solution.” BLOOMBERG

Source: business times

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In fact, after the suspension lock was opened, OMRE’s share price yesterday jumped 6.73% to Rp 1,665 per share. On Tuesday (13/12), OMRE shares once again shot up to the Rp. 1,830 area, before finally closing down 0.30% to a level of Rp. 1,660 per share.

Previously, the IDX rewarded OMRE shares with a temporary suspension of trading (suspension), due to a significant increase in cumulative prices. The suspension will take place from the first trading session on December 2, 2022.

Research Analyst Infovesta Kapital Advisori Arjun Ajwani reminded investors to be wary of the movement of shares that have just been suspended. Moreover, the suspension imposed due to a surge in stock prices that moved unnaturally or was included in the Unusual Market Activity (UMA) category.

Arjun sees that the significant increase in OMRE’s share price since the end of November has not been accompanied by positive catalysts, both fundamentally and technically. Thus, the OMRE share price has the opportunity to move volatile, and has the potential to decline again.

“Unless there is positive sentiment that drives the share price further up. In the short term, it will still be volatile with a low level of liquidity,” explained Arjun when contacted by Kontan.co.id, Tuesday (13/12).

Just so you know, since June 2022, OMRE shares have been more stuck at the price level of IDR 500. However, there was a significant jump in November to break the price level of Rp 1,000 per share.

The IDX also suspended OMRE shares on November 14 2022, then reopened the following day. On November 30, OMRE shares were able to shoot up 25%, then rose another 24.80% on December 1 to a price of IDR 1,560.

Henan Putihrai Sekuritas analyst Jono Syafei estimates that the recent spike in share prices could be a market response to the corporate action held by OMRE. The action is in the form of a rights issue.

As is known, last October OMRE announced that it would hold a Capital Increase with Pre-emptive Rights (PMHMETD). The rights issue is carried out by issuing a maximum of 1.2 billion new Series B shares.

The price for the rights issue is set at Rp 500 per share. As a result, from this rights issue, OMRE is targeting to raise up to Rp 600.27 billion in funds.

The plan to use the proceeds from the rights issue is intended to settle OMRE’s debt to PT Manning Development of Rp 577.58 billion. The rest will be used as working capital.

According to Arjun, the sentiment from the rights issue should not have boosted share prices to a very significant level. If you have strong fundamentals, the share price of the issuer holding the rights issue will rebound in the short term after a temporary correction.

“Investors need to be vigilant. After a certain amount of time, this stock could drop to the level before the price increase at the beginning of November,” said Arjun.

Considering this, Arjun also suggested selling OMRE shares. Whereas. Jono doesn’t have a recommendation for OMRE yet. He only reminded market players to be more careful if they want to collect volatile stocks like those that have been hit by this suspension.

MNC Sekuritas Technical Analyst Herditya Wicaksana added that historically, OMRE stock movements tended to be sideways with volatile volumes.

On another note, be aware of the stochastic which is prone to deadcross. So Herditya advised market players to sell on strength first in OMRE shares.

Source : Kontan

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