Bapepam fines 5 firms for belated reports

Bapepam fines 5 firms for belated reports

JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
fined five companies a total of Rp 151.1 million (US$67,045) for
their belated reports on their deals of Bank Papan Sejahtera
shares on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchanges.

Press reports quoted Secretary of Bapepam M. Irsan Nasarudin
Saturday as saying that the five companies were PT Bank PDFCI, PT
REI Sewindu, FGH Bank, Bank Papan and International Finance
Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank.

The capital market watchdog fined Bank PDFCI Rp 59.99 million
for its delay in reporting its deal to Bapepam, REI Sewindu Rp
59.99 million, FGH Bank Rp 17 million, Bank Papan Rp 11 million
and International Finance Corporation Rp 4 million.

According Bapepam's regulations, publicly-listed companies
should report to Bapepam any events which could affect share
prices within 24 hours. Bapepam also requires the disclosure of
those owning five percent or more of a company, and to report any
change in the amount of their shares.

Bapepam Chairman Bacelius Ruru said earlier that the sale of
around 22 percent of Bank Papan Sejahtera's shares to businessman
Jopie Widjaya had violated the agency's disclosure procedures.

Jopie, the president of the publicly listed Steady Safe,
acquired 22.52 percent of Bank Papan's shares from PDFCI and
other founders of the bank through his wholly-owned Infinity
Wahana in May. But sources said that Jopie also acquired another
29 percent stake through his affiliated firms, making him the
largest single shareholder in the bank.

The unprecedented takeover of Bank Papan caused concern among
the public, who feared that the new majority shareholder would
divert the bank's main business of mortgage operations to other
consumer banking activities.

Bapepam issued a new ruling on Aug. 18 stipulating that the
purchase of 20 percent or more of the shares of a listed company
must be publicly tendered. The tender offer must be announced in
at least two widely-circulated newspapers and be submitted to
Bapepam for an approval.

"If the management or the supervisory board of the target
company feel that the information published by the bidder is
misleading, they are also allowed to announce their objections in
newspapers up to 15 days before the end of the bidding period,"
Ruru said upon issuing the new regulation.

Bapepam has booked Rp 1.4 billion of fines on 51 companies due
to their delays in reporting their deals on shares. (kod)