Aqua delisting faces delay

Aqua delisting faces delay

JAKARTA: Indonesia's largest mineral water producer PT Aqua
Golden Mississippi will have to delay its planned delisting as
its second extraordinary shareholders meeting on Monday failed to
reach quorum.

While the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) required
that 75 percent of minority shareholders attend the meeting, only
52.7 percent were present at the meeting.

Aqua offered to buy back its shares at Rp 100,000 (US$10)
each, while holders of 6.4 percent of Aqua shares insisted on an
amount of at least five times higher considering the brand's
established image.

However, the company's president director Willy Sidharta said
that the offer was final. "We are delisting to consolidate our
business, not to expand," he said.

Aqua first planned to delist from the Jakarta Stock Exchange
in 2001 but failed to seek approval from its minority
shareholders.

French-based Danone Asia Pte Ltd is currently a majority
shareholder of Aqua through PT Tirta Investama. -- JP