Excelcomindo plans IPO on 20% of shares

PT. Excelcomindo Pratama, the nation's third-largest cellular operator, announced on Monday that it plans to sell 20 percent of its shares via an initial public offering (IPO) soon.

In its press statement, Excelcomindo said it would sell 1.42 billion shares, with proceeds from the sale being used to expand the company's businesses. The shares would be listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

"Proceeds from the IPO will be used by the company to finance the expansion of the business," said Excelcomindo president director Manuel de Faria in the statement.

The company, however, did not provide any price details nor time frame for the sale. It only said that it had registered the planned IPO with the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) on Aug. 8.

De Faria said opportunities for the cellular industry to grow in Indonesia was still huge, given the fact of low cellular penetration, conducive macro-economic conditions as well as sufficient telecommunication infrastructure.

With the IPO, Excelcomindo will become the third telecommunications company to have listed their shares on the Jakarta bourse. The two other companies are state-controlled PT Telkom and privately controlled PT Indosat. -- JP