Astra confirms Henry Pribadi's transactions

Astra confirms Henry Pribadi's transactions

JAKARTA (JP): PT Astra International confirmed yesterday that
one of its majority shareholders, Henry Pribadi, sold 30 million
worth of his Astra shares through the Jakarta Stock Exchange
(JSX) last month.

A public relations officer at Astra said, however, that the
record on the portion of the shares held by Henry's company,
Number 6 Enterprises Ltd., remained unchanged at 3.26 percent as
of Sept. 30, because new investors had yet to register their
shares at Astra's share registration office.

Early this week, businessman Putera Sampoerna and his
cigarette company PT HM Sampoerna disclosed that they had bought
up to 12 percent of Astra's shares but declined to explain from
whom they were acquired.

Astra did not mention the value of Henry's transactions but
said that Henry sold his shares in four different transactions.

In a report to the JSX dated Oct. 1, Astra said that Henry's
sale transactions were carried out on Sept. 4, 5, 17 and 24.

Meanwhile, investors continued to take profit on Astra shares
yesterday.

A dealer with a Japanese-based brokerage told The Jakarta Post
that Astra is no longer interesting in terms of short-term
investment.

"A profit taking trend emerged yesterday and might continue in
the next few days," the dealer said.

Astra's share price closed two points lower yesterday at Rp
3,600 after hitting a low of Rp 3,550, while its foreign price
stood at Rp 4,550.

The dealer said several foreign brokerages, particularly the
newly-established SBC Warburg, continued heavy buying of Astra
shares.

He said that two crossing transactions were executed by SBC
Warburg yesterday at Rp 4,000 and Rp 4,750 per share, with
trading volumes of one million shares and 3.36 million shares
respectively.

Another dealer with a London-based securities firm said that
technically, the investors' profit taking action was responsible
for the further decline of Astra's share price.

"But I would prefer to say that several parties who already
own Astra shares are expecting lower prices because they are
still looking for more shares," he told the Post.

He said that in a normal market mechanism, Astra's share price
should continue to increase as long as "takeover" rumors are
still on the market. (alo)