Barito Pacific triples capital to $1.38 billion

Barito Pacific triples capital to $1.38 billion

JAKARTA (JP): PT Barito Pacific Timber (BPT), Indonesia's
largest logging and plywood manufacturer, reported yesterday a
sharp increase in its authorized capital to Rp 3 trillion
(US$1.38 billion) from only Rp 850 billion.

"We are now awaiting approval from the Ministry of Justice for
our capital increase," president of Barito Pacific Timber (BPT),
Yoso Abdullah Gotama, told reporters after the company's
extraordinary shareholders meeting here yesterday.

Yoso said the capital increase, billed as the biggest among
companies listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, was intended to
anticipate the rapidly increasing forestry-related business both
inside the country and overseas.

"In addition, we are geared up for business diversification in
the future," he added, but declined to elaborate.

Prajogo Pangestu, Chairman of the Barito Pacific Group, who
also attended the news conference, said many foreign investors
had approached him for new business ventures.

For example, he said investors in the U.S., Japan and Europe
had offered to buy his plant in Palembang, South Sumatra, which
produced elemental chlorine free (ECF) pulp.

"But we have turned down the offers because we need the plant
to support our timber estate development in the province," he
pointed out.

Barito has a concession of 300,000 hectares of timber estates
in South Sumatra, of which 140,000 hectares have been cultivated
with acacia mangium trees at a total investment of some Rp 300
billion.

The ECF pulp industry was jointly owned by Barito, Nippon
Paper and Marubeni, both of Japan, which are among the leading
pulp manufacturers in the world. Their investment for the ECF
pulp industry was around $1 billion, Prajogo said.

Bonus shares

Yoso reported that Barito's shareholders agreed to the
management's proposal to distribute bonus shares as well as pay a
cash dividend of Rp 133 per share.

For the bonus share scheme, every existing share is entitled
to one new share, he said. The bonus shares will be issued from
the capitalization of Barito's capital gain collected during its
public offering in October 1993, he added.

"The total bonus shares are worth around Rp 700 billion," he
said. The nominal price is Rp 1,000 per bonus share, he pointed
out.

The total amount of the cash dividend reached Rp 93.10
billion, reflecting 30 percent of its 1993 after-tax profit,
which shot up to Rp 310.16 billion from Rp 79.75 billion the
previous year, Yoso added.

This significant rise in its profit was mainly caused by the
jump in its operational income expenses to Rp 333.28 billion
against Rp 142.25 billion previously, Yoso said.

Its earning per share increased to Rp 506 last year from Rp
163 in 1992.

As of Dec. 31, around two months after the listing of the
company's 700 million shares, Barito's assets had soared by 57.1
percent to Rp 2.75 trillion.

BPT, which was owned by Prajogo, Barito Pacific Lumber, PT
Tunggal Setia Pratama, the civil servants' pension fund PT
Taspen, Mukti Lestari Kencana and cooperatives, exported 95
percent of its products to 25 countries.

BPT holds 22 forest concessions and is affiliated with more
than 21 forest concession holders with a combined area of 5.06
million hectares in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku and
Irian Jaya. (fhp)