Foreign telecoms start bidding for PT Indosat
Foreign telecoms start bidding for PT Indosat
JAKARTA (JP): A number of major foreign telecommunications
companies have passed the initial stage in the bidding process
for shares in international telecommunications provider PT
Indosat, the Office of the State Minister of the Empowerment of
State Enterprises announced on Monday.
The telecommunications operators will participate in the due
diligence and management presentation prior to the submission of
final bids in the second half of March, the office said.
"The telecommunications operators selected are all publicly
listed companies," it said. The office did not disclose the names
of the companies.
According to the latest issue of Finance Asia magazine, France
Telecom, British Telecom and Australian Telstra are interested in
Indosat.
"Finding the right strategic partner will be another milestone
for Indosat's development in enhancing our position for expected
global competition...," Indosat president Tjahjono Soerjodibroto
said.
The government holds 65 percent of Indosat's outstanding
shares and has plans to sell more and reduce its ownership to 51
percent.
Indosat went public in 1994 and is listed on the Jakarta,
Surabaya and New York Stock exchanges.
It has appointed Goldman Sachs and state-owned securities
firms PT Bahana and PT Danareksa as financial advisors for
Indosat's privatization.
The government raised some US$114.6 million from its first
privatization deal in September last year, in which it sold 14
percent of publicly listed cementmaker PT Semen Gresik to
Mexico's Cemex SA de CV.
Indosat is one of seven state-owned companies named in the
government's privatization program for the fiscal year ending in
March 1999 in a bid to raise $1 billion to help finance the state
budget deficit.
Other state-owned companies currently in the selling process
are port operators PT Pelindo II and PT Pelindo III, plantation
company PT Perkebunan IV, airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II and
publicly listed mining company PT Aneka Tambang. (02)