Bakrie to control Inovax

Bakrie to control Inovax

PERTH (Reuter): Drug maker and distributor Inovax Ltd said yesterday that a consortium led by Indonesia's Bakrie Group was expected to have majority control of the company once an acquisition was completed later this calendar year.

Inovax managing director Tony Fitzgerald said Bakrie and other investors would help finance the company's A$94.6 million purchase of Indonesian drug maker PT Ponco, announced earlier yesterday.

The investment group would outlay about A$60.8 million in new equity in Inovax, which Fitzgerald said would represent about 66 million shares out of a total of 126 million shares on issue.

Fitzgerald told Reuters that Ponco and its holding company Circa International had been acquired from the Saputra family, with the acquisition due for completion in September 1997.

He said the purchase prices consisted of cash, vendor finance and the assumption of about A$20 million of liabilities.