Bimantara plans IPO for TV holding company

Bimantara plans IPO for TV holding company

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

Media and telecommunications conglomerate PT Bimantara Citra
plans to sell shares in PT Media Nusantara Citra (MNC) to the
public via an initial public offering (IPO), possibly next year,
in a bid to raise cash to finance the expansion of its media
businesses.

MNC is a holding company that currently houses television
stations Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI) and
Global TV, and will later house another TV station, TPI.

Bimantara president director Hary I. Tanoesoedibjo said the
company would sell some 20 percent of its stake in MNC to the
public, possibly next year or in 2006, with proceeds from the IPO
to be used to expand the TV stations and to set up a new radio
station network and print media.

"We plan to seek financing from several sources to finance our
media expansion in the future. Our goal is to establish
integrated media businesses and become the country's media
kingpin," said Harry during a press conference on Friday.

Publicly listed Bimantara has a 100 percent ownership in MNC,
which owns a 100 percent stake in RCTI, 70 percent in Global TV
and possibly 75 percent in TPI. Bimantara is still in the legal
process of transferring the 75 percent stake in TPI to MNC.

"We expect to wrap up the share transfer in the next three to
six months by converting our bonds and debts in TPI, worth about
Rp 500 billion (US$55.5 million), for a 75 percent share," said
Hary.

The integration of the three TV stations under one holding
company will enable the stations to share infrastructure
resources and programs, thus making their operations more
efficient but with a wider network, he said.

Bimantara, which was founded by Bambang Trihatmodjo, the
second son of former president Soeharto, has focused on the media
and telecommunication sectors over the past five years.

In the telecommunications sector, the company has teamed up
with U.S.-based telecommunications company Qualcomm Inc. and
South Korea's KTF Co. in establishing a code division multiple
access-based cellular operator, PT Mobile-8 Telecom, which
provides cellular services under the brand name Fren.

At present, the company has some 200,000 cellular subscribers.

Bimantara plans to seek financing to expand the coverage of
Mobile-8 outside of Java, possibly inviting new strategic
investors and selling some of the company's non-core assets, such
as shares in several property, transportation and gas
infrastructure companies.

"We are planning to sell several of our non-core assets in the
future, based on precise timing and the necessity to help finance
the expansion of our telecommunications business," said Hary.

For this year, Bimantara has projected an increase in
operational revenue to about Rp 1.8 trillion, compared to Rp 1.57
trillion last year. For the first nine months of this year, the
company's revenue is estimated at about Rp 1.3 trillion, with a
net profit of as much as Rp 90 billion.

RCTI has accounted for the majority of this year's revenue.

Looking to next year, Hary said the company's operational
revenue was expected to grow by as much as 40 percent, with RCTI
and Mobile-8 expected to account for most of the revenue.
Bimantara also expects additional revenue from the consolidation
of the TPI financial accounts into the company.

Bimantara shares ended higher by Rp 25 at Rp 2,275 on the
Jakarta Stock Exchange on Friday.