Indonesia's Bakrieland eyes 20-30 pct '09 profit growth

JAKARTA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Indonesian property company, PT Bakrieland Development Tbk (ELTY.JK), expects net profit to rise by 20-30 percent next year, in line with growth in sales, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

Chief Financial Officer Ferdinand Sadeli also said the company's capital spending was expected to grow at a similar rate next year.

Separately, President Director Hiramsyah Thaib said it was in talks with a Middle Eastern investor who might take around a 10 percent stake in the firm or its unit PT Bakrie Swasakti Utama.

"The agreement might be concluded in the first quarter of 2009," Thaib said. He declined to name the investor apart from saying "it is not from Dubai."

Thaib said the 10 percent stake might come from the buyback that the company has planned.

Last month, Thaib told Reuters that the property arm of the Bakrie group planned to buy back 10-15 percent of its shares in the open market, and then sell the stake to a Middle Eastern investor.

Bakrieland have previously engaged with Middle Eastern investors. In March the company said it sold 30 percent of its stake in Bakrie Swasakti and two other units to Dubai property company Limitless for $110 million.

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates forecast Bakrieland to post a revenue of 1.18 trillion rupiah ($96.71 million) this year and net profit at 173 bln rupiah.

The Bakrie group of companies, controlled by the family of Indonesian tycoon and cabinet minister Aburizal Bakrie, has been trying to raise new funding urgently in order to repay $1.2 billion of debt amid a global market meltdown.

Bakrie & Brothers (BNBR.JK), the holding company for the Bakrie group of companies, had said Avenue Luxembourg SARL, had increased its stake in Bakrieland by around 15 percent.

The Bakrie group has expanded rapidly in recent years as interest rates declined and commodity prices surged. But with the sharp sell-off in global financial markets this month, traders have grown increasingly worried about the group's debt levels. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono; Editing by Ed Davies)