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)