Citatah's public offering starts

JAKARTA (JP): PT Citatah, a marble producer, is scheduled here today to begin a three-day primary offering period for the sale of new shares to the public.

PT Lippo Securities, the lead underwriter of Citatah's share issue, announced here over the weekend that the marble firm will offer 44 million new shares accounting for 35 percent of its enlarged capital.

Citatah expects to generate about Rp 110 billion from the initial public offering (IPO) of the shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) early next month.

Citatah, established twenty years ago, currently has more than 60 percent of the domestic marble market. It will also become the first marble company to be listed on the JSX.

Lippo Securities' managing director, Kelvin Lee, said that the shares would be priced at Rp 2,375 (US$1.0) each, representing a price-earning ratio of 10 times the forecast earnings of Rp 24.5 billion for 1996.

In the last three years, Citatah's net profits nave steadily increased, from Rp 2.5 billion in 1993 to Rp 4.9 billion in 1994 and Rp 5.6 billion in 1995, while net sales rose from Rp 20 billion to Rp 30 billion and then Rp 34 billion.

Citatah's president, Taufik Johanes, said that half of the proceeds would be used to finance the company's expansion, 20 percent to strengthen its working capital and the remaining 30 percent to repay the remaining Rp 31 billion of debts.

Citatah, which owns marble mines in Citatah and Sukabumi, in West Java, and at Maros and Pangkep, in South Sulawesi, will expand its production capacity by 40 percent from its current level of 150,000 square meters per month.

In its company profile distributed to the investing public, Citatah said that its products have been used in buildings such as the Shangri-La Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta, the Takashimaya department store in Singapore, Kansai Airport in Japan and the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, the United States.

Commenting on the IPO, Lippo Securities' sales director, Harry Danardjo, said "both international and domestic investors have shown keen interest in Citatah's IPO."

He said it was worth noting that this year's first IPO on the JSX, PT Lippo Karawaci, ended its offering period last week successfully, with 600 percent oversubscription.

However, Citatah will be competing with another company, PT London Sumatra Indonesia, a plantation firm which is also starting its three-day offering period today.

Citatah's shares will be listed on the JSX on July 3, just two days before London Sumatra's listing date. (alo)