Bukit Asam to offer 346.5m IPO shares

Bukit Asam to offer 346.5m IPO shares

Dow Jones, Jakarta

Indonesia's state-owned coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit
Asam said Monday it will sell 346.5 million shares Dec. 11-13 in
an initial public offering.

The shares will include 315 million of the government's shares
in the company and 31.5 million new shares.

The IPO shares represent 15 percent of the company's enlarged
equity, Bukit Asam said in a statement.

The company hasn't set the IPO price for the shares, which
have nominal value of Rp 500 (5.4 U.S. cents) each.

Bukit Asam will give one warrant for every two shares bought.
The warrant holders will be entitled to buy the company's shares
at a yet-to-be-determined price from May 26, 2003 to Dec. 19,
2005.

Most the proceeds will go to the state's coffers to help
finance the state budget. The remainder will be used as working
capital, Bukit Asam said, without specifying figures.

The shares are expected to be mostly bought by state-owned
pension funds.

Bukit Asam, which has large coal mining site in West Sumatra,
booked net profit of Rp 112.2 billion in the first half of the
year ended June 30, up 78 percent from Rp 63.1 billion in the
year-earlier period.

Bukit Asam had planned to offer 35 percent of its shares in
the IPO, but reduced the amount following the Oct. 12 bombings on
Bali island, which damaged market sentiment.