Humpuss grows into giant holding company

Humpuss grows into giant holding company

JAKARTA (JP):The Humpuss Group, which started business 10
years ago, has grown into a giant holding company of widely-
diversified businesses with total assets of more than Rp 1.05
trillion (US$491.11 billion).

Edwin Hudioro, the group's finance director, said here over
the weekend that the group's total sales reached almost Rp 1
trillion in 1992, giving it a before-tax profit of Rp 600
billion.

This profit figure is far higher than the Rp 100 billion
reported by the Swa magazine recently.

Edwin said that the Humpuss Group, which is controlled by
President Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, 32, who
is known as Tommy, currently consists of 20 companies, six of
which are still in the process of establishment.

The group, which is organizing celebrations to commemorate its
10th anniversary, also has minor shares in four companies.

"We expect to gain more income from two new important
projects, which we hope will raise our assets and revenues by
almost 50 percent within the next two or three years," he said.

Projects

The two projects are a methanol plant in East Kalimantan which
was launched last November by PT Kaltim Methanol Industri and PT
Humpuss Terminal Peti Kemas's container terminal at Tanjung Priok
port, which is expected to start operating in 1996 or 1997.

The group's Media Humpuss internal magazine reported that
Kaltim Methanol Industri's methanol plant has a production
capacity of 660,000 tons per year, of which 60 percent is for
exports and the remaining 40 percent for domestic sales.

Bernardino M. Vega, the group's planning director, said that
during the first five years of operation, the group's line of
business was mainly in transportation services.

"Our transportation subsidiaries during the time included PT
Gatari Air Service, an air charter company, and PT Humpuss Sea
Transport, a company specializing in the shipment of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) and methanol, which will soon add two new
tankers to its present nine-ship fleet," he said, adding that an
affiliate of the group, PT Sempati Air, operated in scheduled air
transportation.

PT Marga Mandalasakti, an affiliate operating in land
transportation, is currently carrying out construction, and will
soon be managing a 77.4-kilometer toll road linking Tangerang
with Merak, both in West Java, in cooperation with PT Jasa Marga,
the state-owned company authorized to manage highways throughout
the country.

"In May or June, Humpuss will also launch repaired double-
decker buses, which are presently managed by Jakarta's Public Bus
Transportation Company (PPD)," Bernardino said.

He said that over the past five years, the Humpuss Group has
established new companies operating in the petrochemical and oil
industries.

Its companies operating in the oil industry include PT Humpuss
Patragas, which explores for oil and gas operates in Central
Java, and Perta Oil Marketing Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company
selling Indonesian oil to foreign buyers.

Core

"We are now focusing our operations in three core businesses
-- transportation and the petrochemical and oil industries," he
said.

Bernardino said the group recently restructured its management
to improve efficiency.

He said the group now has one president, two directors -- one
as planning director and the other as executive director -- and
five managers. The previous management consisted of one
president, one executive director, two assistant directors and
eight managers.

The restructuring also caused a shift in the role of the
holding company from an operating holding one to an investment
holding one, which will concentrate on making guidelines for the
group's overall policies, Bernardino explained.

A spokesman for the group said the group's assets steadily
increased from Rp 100 billion in 1987 to Rp 175 billion in 1988,
Rp 275 billion in 1989, Rp 700 billion in 1990, Rp 800 billion in
1991 and Rp 1 trillion in 1992.

Its sales rose from Rp 180 billion in 1987 to almost Rp 300
billion in 1988, Rp 900 billion in 1989 and Rp 975 billion in
1990, but decreased to Rp 900 billion in 1991 before rising back
to Rp 950 billion in 1992. (10)