Nusamba confirms plan to acquire stake in Astra<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti (Nusamba), a business
\ngroup controlled by foundations headed by President Soeharto, has
\nconfirmed its plan to take over a majority stake in PT Astra
\nInternational.<\/p>\n
Bob Hasan, a Nusamba commissioner, said that Astra, the
\ncountry's largest automotive company is a healthy business entity
\nto be part of.<\/p>\n
\"Buying Astra shares will be for a long-term investment. In
\naddition, we also intend to help further develop the automotive
\ncompany,\" he was quoted by Kompas as saying yesterday.<\/p>\n
Nusamba, which is 80 percent owned by foundations controlled
\nby Soeharto, 10 percent by his eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto and
\nanother 10 percent by Bob, has a wide range of business
\ninterests, from plantations to financial activities.<\/p>\n
Bob did not elaborate on the amount of Astra shares Nusamba
\nplanned to buy. But he said that Nusamba would buy all the Astra
\nshares available on the market.<\/p>\n
The price of Astra shares continued to gain ground following
\nreports of takeover plans by a number of Indonesian business
\ntycoons in the last few weeks. The price has risen by 50 percent
\nsince September to Rp 3,550 on Thursday. The stock price
\ncontinued gaining ground yesterday to close at Rp 3,950 following
\nthe fresh takeover reports.<\/p>\n
Late last month, Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti (Tutut)
\nHardiyanti Rukmana was reported to have formed an alliance with
\nNusamba to take over a majority stake in the automotive company.<\/p>\n
Tutut was reported to have negotiated to acquire a 10.68
\npercent stake in Astra from Prayogo Pangestu's Delta Mustika.
\nPrayogo, the chairman of the Barito Group, is now the largest
\nshareholder in the automotive company.<\/p>\n
Nusamba planned to buy another 10 percent stake from state-
\nowned companies. Tutut was not available for an immediate comment
\nbut Bob said last week that Nusamba had no interest at all in
\nbuying Astra shares.<\/p>\n
His statement published by Kompas yesterday was otherwise
\ncontradictory to his previous statement.<\/p>\n
The news of the plan of the President's family and his
\nfoundations to acquire Astra shares emerged in the wake of the
\nbuying spree made by tobacco tycoon Putera Sampoerna in the
\nautomotive company's stocks.<\/p>\n
Putera, the chairman of HM Sampoerna, one of the country's
\nlargest clove-blended cigarette manufacturers, later confirmed
\nthat he had bought 9.81 percent of Astra shares. The cigarette
\nproducer's wholly-owned Dutch subsidiary bought another 2.85
\npercent, making Putera and his company the largest shareholder in
\nthe automotive company.<\/p>\n
In his latest statement, Bob said that it will not be a
\nproblem for his company even if it becomes a minority shareholder
\nin Astra, whose shares have in the last several weeks, become the
\ntarget of speculative trading.<\/p>\n
\"If we are able to enter the company (Astra), we will forge a
\nstrategic alliance with other shareholders and then make joint
\nefforts to improve its profitability,\" he said. \"If such a
\nstrategy is made, all shareholders will benefit from it.\"<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that Nusamba, at present, did not have even a
\nsingle share in the automotive company but he emphasized that his
\ncompany had already \"approached\" the existing shareholders to buy
\ntheir stocks.<\/p>\n
Astra posted a 17.18 percent increase in its consolidated net
\nrevenue to Rp 6.84 trillion (US$2.9 billion) in the first
\nsemester of this year, but saw an almost flat net profit, at Rp
\n182.83 billion. its total assets reached Rp 17.5 trillion as of
\nJune, up by Rp 1.85 trillion from December's position.<\/p>\n
Positive reaction<\/p>\n
Commenting on Bob's contradictory statements, an official at
\nthe Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) said that there
\nwas nothing wrong because none of the two different statements
\ncan be categorized as misleading information.<\/p>\n
\"On the contrary, I would say that has Bob just done something
\nvery positive,\" the chief of Bapepam's Corporate Finance Division
\nI, Herwidayatmo, told journalists.<\/p>\n
He said that, unlike other investors, Bob disclosed his
\nintention before executing his plan to acquire Astra shares.<\/p>\n
\"It's exactly what Bapepam wants investors to do!\" he added.<\/p>\n
Herwidayatmo declined any speculation that Nusamba might have
\nacquired Astra shares before Bob made the statement.<\/p>\n
He said that although Bob had bought Astra shares, he could
\nnot be blamed for violating any rules as long as his share
\nownership did not exceed 5 percent of the total outstanding
\nshares.<\/p>\n
Bob cannot be charged in the event that he might have owned
\nmore than a 5 percent stake in Astra on condition that he
\ndiscloses his position to the agency within 10 days after
\nachieving the 5 percent ownership.<\/p>\n
Herwidayatmo also said that Bob's first statement that he had
\nno plan to control Astra, should be accepted positively with an
\nassumption that he could change his mind.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a JSX director, Mas Achmad Daniri, said that Bob's
\nstatement was categorized as public information which could help
\nexplain Astra share price increase yesterday.<\/p>\n
JSX, according to Daniri, therefore did not take any action
\nsuch as suspending Astra shares' trading. (hen\/alo)<\/p>",
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