'Astra's shareholding should remain diversified'

JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said yesterday that the government would prefer the shareholding of PT Astra International to remain diversified and not be accumulated in the hands of certain business groups or families.

"It is better for Astra to remain a public company whose share ownership is dominated by the investing public," Moerdiono told reporters yesterday.

Moerdiono was asked by reporters to comment on the controversy of the Astra "takeover" in which PT Nusantara Ampera Bhakti (Nusamba) is also rumored to be a potential new large investor.

Nusamba is a diversified business group controlled by three foundations headed by President Soeharto.

Astra is the only listed company which is no longer controlled by its founders or by any single majority shareholder, with its largest shareholder, PT Delta Mustika, holding only a 10.5 percent stake.

But speculation on whether Astra could maintain its current diversified stockholder position is questionable considering the rumors that several parties, including tobacco tycoon Putera Sampoerna and Nusamba, might want to become Astra's single majority shareholder.

Putera has disclosed that as of Sep. 24, he has already acquired 9.8 percent of Astra's shares.

Meanwhile, a Nusamba commissioner, Mohamad (Bob) Hasan, said last week that the company is willing to buy Astra shares presently owned by state-owned banks and pension funds. These total around 10 percent of the total stock.

Moerdiono, however, clarified that Nusamba has no intention of controlling Astra.

"I don't think so (that Nusamba is preparing to become a majority shareholder)," he noted.

He also said that the government prefers diversified share ownership because the distribution of shares is in line with the government's policy to reduce social diversity.

Therefore, according to Moerdiono, the government hopes that in the long run, all companies in the country, not only the big ones, will go public.

Unchanged

Astra shares were traded actively yesterday on the Jakarta Stock Exchange with approximately 45 million shares changing hands but their price closed unchanged at Rp 4,250 (US$1.81) after hitting a high of Rp 4,650.

"I'm not so sure whether Nusamba has begun to buy (Astra shares)" a dealer with a Japanese-based brokerage told The Jakarta Post.

"But I could say that the market reacted negatively to a big deal by Danamon Securities and Finan Corpindo, a brokerage house owned by Sampoerna, because the transaction was executed at a price of only Rp 4,000 per share," he said.

He said that the Danamon deal surprised investors because the price was not as high as expected. "The deal then triggered a lot of selling by local investors and therefore pushed down the share price."

The dealer said that market players were also wondering who was behind Danamon's purchasing of around 39 million shares. (alo)