Bank Buana to go public

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bank Buana Indonesia plans to sell 970 million new shares or 20 percent of its enlarged stocks to the public next month to raise funds for equity improvement.

The bank's president, Jimmy Laihad, said on Wednesday the new shares would be offered to the public during the first week of July before being listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges in late July.

However, he declined to disclose the share price for the time being as the bank would have to evaluate the current market demand to set the right pricing.

The underwriters for the offering are PT Makindo and PT Syahrir Securities.

Bank Buana has been rated a sound (category A) bank by Bank Indonesia and had a capital adequacy ratio of 24.41 percent as of December 1999.

It posted a net profit of Rp 26.3 billion in the first quarter this year. In 1999, the bank booked Rp 279 billion in net profit. (udi)