HK firm gets stake in Bakrie & Brothers<\/p>\n
By Frits H. Pangemanan<\/p>\n
HONG KONG (JP): AIG Investment Corp. (Asia) Ltd., a Hong Kong
\nfinancial company, signed an agreement here yesterday to purchase
\nPT Bakrie & Brothers shares worth US$125 million to support the
\nlatter's expansion programs.<\/p>\n
The chairman of Bakrie & Brothers, Aburizal Bakrie, told
\nreporters after signing the agreement with the president of AIG
\nInvestment, Cesar C. Zalamea that yesterday's deal allows the
\nHong Kong company to hold 6.2 percent of Bakrie & Brothers
\nshares.<\/p>\n
The president and chief executive officer of Bakrie &
\nBrothers, Tanri Abeng, explained that the funds from AIG
\nInvestment will be used to take over the Bakrie family's stakes
\nin some companies, including copper mining company PT Indocopper
\nInvestama Corporation, pipe producer PT Seamless Pipe Indonesia
\nand the coal mining company PT Arutmin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"It means that the 49.3 percent stake of PT Bakrie Investindo
\nin Indocopper Investama, the 37.52 percent stake of PT Bakrie
\nNusantara Corp in Seamles Pipe and the 20 percent stake of Bakrie
\nInvestindo in Arutmin will be all acquired by Bakrie & Brothers,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Tanri pointed out that the acquisition of the three firms has
\nbeen approved both by minority shareholders of Bakrie & Brothers
\nand by the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam).<\/p>\n
Debt<\/p>\n
Part of the funds will also be used to finance Bakrie &
\nBrothers's plan to purchase Wisma Bakrie, which is 100 percent
\nowned by the Bakrie family, and to repay part of its $100 million
\ndebt, Tanri said.<\/p>\n
"The sales of the shares indicate that the Bakrie family will
\nfocus operations in certain core businesses," he said.<\/p>\n
Bakrie & Brothers, which has a number of subsidiaries,
\nincluding PT Bakrie Communications, PT Bakrie Electronics Company
\nand PT Radio Telepon Indonesia, currently holds total assets of
\naround $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n
Zalamea said that the deal with Bakrie & Brothers was AIG
\nInvestment's second equity participation in Asia.<\/p>\n
AIG Investment has provided $60 million for a cellular
\ntelephone project in the Philippines, he said.<\/p>\n
He said his company, with $1.5 billion in total assets, is
\ncommitted to increasing investments in Indonesia in the future,
\nconsidering that the Indonesian economy has a bright future.(fhp)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hk-firm-gets-stake-in-bakrie-brothers-1447893297",
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