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Fri, 30 Jun 1995

JP/Bakrie Sumatra Plantation to acquire PT Multi Jaya

Bakrie Sumatra Plantation to acquire PT Multi Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): Bakrie Sumatra Plantation, a publicly listed company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the West Kalimantan administration and Bank Pembangunan Indonesia to acquire a palm oil plantation firm, PT Multi Jaya Perkasa.

"We will take over the plantation which has been neglected by its owner," Bakrie Sumatra Plantation's business development director, M. Idris Pabottingi, told reporters after an annual meeting of the company's shareholders yesterday.

Multi Jaya, which controls 11,000 hectares of a palm oil plantation in the West Kalimantan regency of Sanggau, has financial problems with Bank Pembangunan Indonesia.

Pabottingi declined to give any details about the financial injection provided by Bakrie Sumatra Plantation for the plantation.

He also said that Bakrie Sumatra Plantation, an affiliate of the Bakrie Group, has diversified its plantations from rubber to cocoa and palm oil.

"We can not rely on one commodity only," Bakrie Sumatra Plantation's president, A. Hanif Bakri, commented.

He acknowledged that the palm oil price is currently much better than rubber and cocoa. "But we do not abstain from the rubber business," he said.

Besides managing its own plantation, Bakrie Sumatra Plantation also provides technical assistance to some 200,000 hectares of rubber plantations on China's Hainan island.

At yesterday's meeting Bakrie Sumatra Plantation reported a 67 percent increase in its net profit to Rp 24.2 billion (US$ 10.8 million) in 1994 over the previous year and a plan to pay out dividends of Rp 350 for each share.

Bakrie Sumatra Plantation was founded in 1911 under the name of NV Hollandsch Amerikaanse Plantage Maatschappij, with its operation in tobacco plantations.

Bakrie Sumatra Plantation is now 52.5 percent owned by Bakrie & Brothers, 9.1 percent by Daya Sarana Pratama, seven percent by Bimantara Citra, 1.4 percent by Soedjai Kartasasmita, 10.8 percent by Bank Bumi Daya, 6.2 percent by Danareksa and 13 percent by the investing public. (kod)