Bank Buana to be listed on NYSE in 2003

Bank Buana to be listed on NYSE in 2003

Bank Buana Indonesia has obtained approval from the U.S.
Securities and Stock Exchange Commission to sell its shares on
the New York Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2003, in what
will be the first listing of American Depositary Receipts by a
local bank.

"We hope the listing will help boost liquidity of our shares
traded on the Jakarta Stock Exchange," Pardi Kendy, told Dow
Jones Newswires Tuesday.

The mid-sized bank launched an initial public offering in
Indonesia this year, but trading on its shares has been illiquid
with only 26 percent of shares being held by public investors.

A generous 30 percent annual dividend that the bank has been
paying to shareholders over the last two years is also giving
investors another reason to hold on to their shares for the long
term.

Bank Buana is one of the few local banks that emerged
relatively unscathed from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. In
the first nine months of 2002, it posted a net profit of Rp
230.90 billion (US$26 million), up from Rp 177.23 billion in the
same period a year ago. -- Dow Jones