Citatah's public offering starts
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)