Bakrie to decide whether to sell Indocopper stake

Bakrie to decide whether to sell Indocopper stake

JAKARTA (JP): The shareholders of Bakrie & Brothers are
expected to decide today whether the company will sell its stake
in Indocopper Investama Corporation (IIC), which owns 9.36
percent of Freeport Indonesia.

Bakrie & Brothers' president Tanri Abeng said yesterday that
the shareholders' annual meeting today would decide whether there
was to be a sale.

He refused to name potential buyers but said they would have
to meet Bakrie's requirements. He did not elaborate.

Asked if Muhamad (Bob) Hasan had formally bade for Bakrie's
stake in Indocopper, he said: "I think it is unethical for me to
mention names of potential buyers," he said.

A senior Bakrie executive told the Jakarta Post earlier that
financial advisors, Salomon Brothers and Forest International,
had advised the company to sell its Indocopper shares because
Indocopper was not part of its core business, which comprises
telecommunications, infrastructure, plantations and strategic
investment.

Tanri said the financial advisors had suggested that Bakrie
injected the cash from the sale into its core business.

"We have to comprehensively and thoroughly study the advice,"
he said.

He said that if Bakrie sold its stake in Indocopper it would
do so at market prices.

But he said his company would not make an open tender even
though more than two firms had expressed interest in the
Indocopper stake.

Chairman of the Bakrie Group Aburizal bakrie noted earlier
that the Indonesian government and Indocopper each now held 9.36
percent of Freeport Indonesia. The rest was held by PT Freeport-
McMoran Copper and Gold of the United States.

In December 1992, Freeport-McMoran bought 49 percent of the
shares of IIC so that 49 percent of IIC was owned by Bakrie and
Brothers, 2 percent by Bakrie Investindo and 49 percent by
McMoran.

Local dailies reported late last week that the country's
timber baron Bob Hasan was likely to acquire Bakrie & Brothers'
stake in Indocopper through Nusamba group.

Nusamba group is controlled by three foundations chaired by
President Soeharto. Bob Hasan and the President's eldest son
Sigit Hardjojudanto each own 10 percent of the widely diversified
business group.

Earlier reports said that Bob Hasan had bought 50 percent of
PT Askatindo Mineral Karya, Bre-X's local partner in the Busang
gold mine. (09)