By:Faisal Maliki Baskoro<\/p>\n
Astra International, the largest automotive retailer in Indonesia, plans to spend $1.5 billion next year on expansion, including an aggressive push into infrastructure, a company executive said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Gunawan Geniusahardja, a director of Astra, said about 40 percent of the spending would be used for infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are expanding into our core business, the business that we are good at, which includes infrastructure,\u2019\u2019 Gunawan said on the sidelines of the Investor Summit in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Gunawan said Astra hoped to build coal-fired power plants in East Kalimantan and two toll road projects - one linking Kunciran and Serpong in the Tangerang area of Banten province, and another in East Java. He did not provide any details.<\/p>\n
Aside from the construction projects, Gunawan said 60 percent of the funds would be used to finance Astra\u2019s automotive division, including a plan to boost production capacity at the Toyota and Daihatsu automobile plants in Karawang, West Java.<\/p>\n
Gunawan said Astra wanted to balance the contributions from its various business units so no single unit was a dominating factor in generating revenue.<\/p>\n
The company will attempt to diversify with its infrastructure projects, and it hopes to benefit from the government\u2019s plan to boost the economy by building roads and seaports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to find a balance,\u201d Gunawan said. \u201cThe contribution of the automotive business has been reduced. It is now 60 percent, from about 80 [percent] in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astra has six business divisions: automotive, financial services, heavy equipment distribution, agribusiness, information technology, and infrastructure and logistics.<\/p>\n
It controls Astra Agro Lestari, the country\u2019s biggest listed palm oil producer. Astra also controls United Tractors, the heavy equipment distributor.<\/p>\n
Astra aims to maintain its position as the market leader in the automotive business.<\/p>\n
\u201c For car sales, we remain the market leader with a market share of 55 percent,\u2019\u2019 Gunawan said.<\/p>\n
The company also aims to maintain its market shares in the motorcycle business, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMotorcyle sales at Astra International are forecast to reach 4.3 million units next year, or equivalent to around 56 percent of the national market of 8.3 million,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Shares of Astra International fell 2.4 percent to Rp 57, 300 on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The shares have rise<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/astra-plans-15b-push-in-2012-1317873592", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }