Container terminal joint venture to be set up

JAKARTA (JP): PT Surya Semesta Internusa through its subsidiary PT Suryacipta Swadaya will operate a container terminal with Sumitomo of Japan and PT HM Sampoerna.

Suryacipta Swadaya's president said here Thursday the three companies would soon establish a joint venture to operate and manage the terminal.

The three parties signed a memorandum of understanding two days ago to conduct a feasibility study on the joint venture.

He said the joint venture would be named PT Sampoerna Nusantara Transport and would be on a five-hectare plot in the company's industrial estate in Karawang West Java.

He said the new venture would also offer storage, a distribution center and courier services for companies in the industrial estate.

Basroni declined to say how much investment would be allocated to operate the container terminal.

"We will not be the majority shareholder as it is not our core business," he said.

He said Sumitomo had a similar facility in East Jakarta Industrial Park while HM Sampoerna had a distribution company, Alfa.

"The cooperation between the three firms will provide good synergy," he said after the public listing of PT Surya Semesta Internusa on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) yesterday.

PT Surya Semesta Internusa, PT Suryacipta Swadaya's holding, made its capital market debut by listing its shares on the JSX.

The company said it had raised around Rp 135 billion (US$56.72 million) from the sale of 20 percent of the shares in the initial public offering (IPO) early this month. Each share was sold at Rp 975.

In yesterday's capital market debut, the share price gained Rp 25 to close at Rp 1,000.

Vice president of the firm Johaness Suriadjaya said 62 percent of the IPO proceeds would be used to finance the company's expansion including its industrial and real estate businesses in Karawang. The remaining 38 percent would repay debts.

The company, which recorded a net profit of Rp 20 billion in 1995, earned Rp 49.31 billion in net profit by the end of December 1996 --- higher than initial projections of Rp 48.38 billion.

He said the industrial and real estate businesses contributed 76.4 percent to the company's total net profit in 1996 and construction contributed 14.6 percent.

President of SSI Marseno Wirjosaputro said SSI recorded net sales of Rp 626.94 billion in 1996.

Surya Semesta Internusa was established in 1971 and now has four core businesses: industrial and real estate, construction, building material and hotel development. (09)