Goodyear Plantation's stake sold

Goodyear Plantation's stake sold

JAKARTA (JP): PT Berdikari, a state-owned business group directly overseen by President Soeharto, has taken a 20 percent stake in Goodyear Sumatra Plantation.

Bustanil Arifin, an executive of the company, said here yesterday that the President has approved the US$22 million- takeover deal.

"We actually wanted 100 percent of the company's shares or at least 50 percent but they only gave us 20 percent," Bustanil, a former minister of cooperatives and former chairman of National Logistics Agency (Bulog), told newsmen after meeting with President Soeharto.

Bustanil did not explain the relationship between Goodyear Plantation and Goodyear Indonesia, a tire manufacturer listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

He said that Goodyear Plantation should extend the concessionaire rights of its 20,000-hectare natural rubber plantation in Sumatra by 1997.

"To be able to renew its concessionaire rights, the company should divest part of its shares to local investors," he said.

He also told newsmen that the status of PT Berdikari, which is now directly supervised by the President, would be changed so that the firm, like other state-owned companies, is directly overseen by the Minister of Finance.

Bustanil said that Berdikari operates a number of manufacturing and insurance subsidiaries. (hen)