Bimantara in Talks to Sell Mobile Stake; Shares Surge

Bimantara in Talks to Sell Mobile Stake; Shares Surge

Bloomberg Jakarta

PT Bimantara Citra, which owns Indonesia's fourth-largest mobile- phone operator, said it's in final talks to sell a stake in the unit. Bimantara shares jumped to an eight-month high.

Unit PT Mobile-8 Telecom is seeking a partner to help it expand its business, Bimantara Director Alexander Edwin Kawilarang said on Monday in a telephone interview from the company's Jakarta headquarters. He didn't give details about price or the identity of the prospective buyer.

"We are negotiating," Kawilarang said. "We will make a disclosure when we sign a deal."

PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) and PT Indosat, the largest and the second-largest mobile-phone operators respectively, control more than four-fifths of the nation's cellular market. Mobile-8 has about 1 million users, according to the company's Web site, giving it a 2.3 percent market share in a nation where less than a quarter of the 238 million population have phone access.

"Bimantara may be able to sell the stake at a premium as the business has a promising outlook," said Suherman Santikno, an analyst at PT Indo Premier Securities in Jakarta. "Bimantara will benefit from the sale because the unit still reports losses."

Bimantara shares jumped 15 percent to Rp 2,525 each at the 12 p.m. local time break on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, set for the highest close since March 15. At the closing, its shares jumped Rp 300, or 14 percent, to Rp 2,500, its highest close since March 22.