Djajanti awaits minister's reference for share offering<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin
\nSoeryohadikoesoemo reiterated yesterday that he has yet to issue
\na recommendation for PT Artika Optima Inti to go public.<\/p>\n
\"I have been given additional reports on various aspects of
\ntheir forest management,\" Djamaloedin told newsmen.<\/p>\n
PT Artika, a wood-based panel board manufacturer on Seram
\nIsland, Maluku, which is a subsidiary of the widely diversified
\nDjajanti Group, originally scheduled its initial public offering
\nof 66 million shares -- or 30 percent of its enlarged common
\nstocks -- during the third week of May and planned to list those
\nshares on the stock exchanges on June 22.<\/p>\n
But those plans have been delayed due to the absence of a
\nrecommendation from the forestry ministry to the Capital Market
\nSupervisory Agency (Bapepam).<\/p>\n
Djamaloedin and PT Artika still had conflicting views about
\nthe capacity of the company's forest concessions and some other
\nrequirements on its forest management.<\/p>\n
Djamaloedin said the recommendation to go public will be given
\nto PT Artika after an independent appraisal agency has audited
\nthe company's forest concessions.<\/p>\n
He said it would be better to appoint an independent body,
\nsuch as the one dealing with ecolabelling, to conduct an
\nindependent survey on Artika's concessions.<\/p>\n
PT Artika's management conducted roadshows in several cities
\nsuch as Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco,
\nLondon, Paris, Zurich, Rotterdam and Geneva in April, which
\nattracted great interest in the company's share offering among
\nforeign fund managers.<\/p>\n
Djajanti, established in 1956 in Banjarmasin, East Kalimantan,
\nand controlled by Burhan Uray and family, is one of the leading
\nconglomerates in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
According to its annual report, Djajanti had total assets of
\nUS$530 million with annual turnovers exceeding US$370 million.<\/p>\n
Djajanti has two plywood factories on Seram Island and in
\nGresik, East Java, respectively, and owns large stakes in
\nfisheries, plantations, fishing ship building and several other
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
The group has 26 forest concessions with over 3.5 million
\nhectares in Kalimantan, Irian Jaya, Maluku, Sumatera and
\nSulawesi. Of the total, 15 concessions with 2.2 million hectares
\nare affiliated with PT Artika.<\/p>\n
Securities analysts who followed the \"tug-of-war\" between the
\nDjajanti Group and the forestry minister noted that the
\nrequirement imposed on PT Artika to build an integrated wood
\nindustry in Irian Jaya seemed too tough and discriminative in
\nnature.<\/p>\n
They recalled that PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya and PT Barito
\nPacific, which also manage large forest concessions in Irian
\nJaya, had been given recommendations to go public even though
\nthey had not set up any wood processing plants in that province.<\/p>\n
They also wondered why the forestry ministry did not take into
\naccount the Djajanti Group's records of about 30 years in forest
\nmanagement and its pioneering development efforts in the country's
\nleast-developed eastern provinces.<\/p>\n
\"The fact that the company's annual tree harvest plan has always been
\napproved by the forestry ministry should have proved that
\nDjajanti's performance was not so poor as to make it unqualified
\nfor a recommendation to go public,\" noted a securities analyst,
\nwho claimed to have received many inquiries from foreign
\ninvestors about the Artika share offering.<\/p>\n
An executive of PT Artika said his company has set up a
\nsawmill in Irian Jaya and plans to establish a veneer mill as an
\ninitial step towards the gradual development of an integrated
\nwood industry.<\/p>\n
He contended, however, that as the requirement to build a wood
\nindustry was meant to help speed up the development of Irian
\nJaya, Djajanti had for a long time been contributing to that
\nprovince's development through its sago and shrimp processing
\nplants.<\/p>\n
According to him, more thorough studies should be made before
\na major wood industry that requires a large investment is
\nestablished. (09\/vin)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/djajanti-awaits-ministers-reference-for-share-offering-1447893297",
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