Bakrie group reschedules meeting

Bakrie & Brothers, one of Indonesia's oldest publicly listed holding companies, failed to gain approval for its planned rights issue because a quorum was not met during its scheduled extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Wednesday.

Only 29.22 percent of the registered shareholders were represented at the meeting, well short of the two-thirds quorum needed.

"We'll try to schedule another meeting for April 14," said director and corporate secretary Juliandus Tobing, adding that the next meeting would only need one-third of shareholders in attendance to be valid as specified in company regulations.

Monday's closing share price of Bakrie & Brothers was Rp 210.

The company is aiming to raise Rp 1.92 trillion from the rights issue.

Of the total proceeds, 62.27 percent will be used for debt- refinancing, 29.22 percent for expansion in Bakrie Telekom -- one of the firm's 16 subsidiaries -- and the remainder for strengthening its working capital.

Bakrie & Brothers focuses its investment on three divisions: telecommunications, infrastructure and plantations. A recent financial statement reported a net loss of Rp. 266 billion last year as compared to a net income of Rp 22 billion in 2003. -- JP/002