Mandiri's glittering IPO campaign raises concern<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Bank Mandiri's IPO glittering campaign has raised the concern of
\na corporate governance watchdog, which says the public needs to
\nbe informed not only about the benefits of investing in the
\ncountry's largest bank but also about the risks.<\/p>\n
"An IPO campaign has to contain complete information about a
\ncompany's prospectus, meaning it has to equally expose the
\nbenefits and the risks in the investment," Adi Rahman Adiwoso,
\nchairman of the Indonesian Institute for Corporate Governance
\n(IICG), said on Monday at a round-table discussion with several
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
"I see that Bank Mandiri's campaign puts more emphasis on the
\nbenefits," he said. "It is important to balance the information
\nin order to prevent potential investors from having too-high
\nexpectations."<\/p>\n
The bank plans to initially sell a 15 percent share in the
\nbank to the public starting from July 2 to July 4.<\/p>\n
To attract as many investors as possible, Bank Mandiri has
\nbeen holding a massive campaign on its initial public offering
\n(IPO) by placing large advertisements on and in every possible
\nmedium: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and outdoor ads.
\nAmong other enticements, it is offering luxury cars to five lucky
\ninvestors.<\/p>\n
Analysts said earlier that the bank's IPO plan had already had
\nan impact on the stock market and had lifted the price of a
\nnumber of banks' shares.<\/p>\n
Adiwoso said that the IICG had called on the Capital Market
\nSupervisory Agency (Bapepam) to implement a regulation on
\nconducting IPO campaigns.<\/p>\n
"In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission
\n(SEC) implements a 'quiet period' when an IPO issuer is subject
\nto a ban on promotional publicity," he said. "I think we should
\nimplement such a regulation."<\/p>\n
A quiet period starts when an issuer holds a public offering
\nand ends when the stocks are already listed. During the time, the
\nissuer cannot reveal anything other than information in its
\nprospectus, according to Adiwoso.<\/p>\n
Separately, Bapepam chairman Herwidayatmo told The Jakarta
\nPost that Bapepam had summoned last week the underwriters of Bank
\nMandiri's share offering, asking them to balance the campaign
\ninformation between the benefits and the risks.<\/p>",
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