Humpuss Intermoda plans to divest 30 percent stake

Humpuss Intermoda plans to divest 30 percent stake

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed shipping and transportation
company PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi said on Thursday that
it planned to divest up to 30 percent of its stake to strategic
investors.

Humpuss president Budhi Halim said that Singapore's Sembawang
Group had expressed interest in acquiring a stake, but had yet to
follow up on it.

"If they (Sembawang) send us a proposal, we will start
negotiations," Budhi told reporters in a press meeting.

Humpuss Intermoda operates a shipping fleet for the
transportation of crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and
methanol. The company's main client is state oil and gas company
Pertamina, which is the world's largest LNG exporter.

Budhi said that the value of the 30 percent stake was still
being determined by majority shareholder Humpuss Group.

The group, controlled by President Soeharto's fugitive son
Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Soeharto, owns 87 percent of Humpuss
Intermoda. The remaining 16 percent is owned by the public.

Tommy has been at large for over a month, after his graft
conviction in September.

According to Budhi, Tommy currently owns a minority stake of
5.6 percent in the diverse Humpuss Group.

He did not explain the formula for the divestment but said
that the funds to be raised from the sale would be used to
strengthen the company's working capital.

In such a divestment, it is normal to issue new shares to the
buyer. This will cause a dilution in the ownership of existing
shareholders.

For the third quarter of this year, Humpuss Intermoda net
profit surged to Rp 97.6 billion (US$10.27 million) or up 877
percent from Rp 11.12 billion in the same period last year.

The company attributed the improvement to the divestment of
its subsidiary PT Humpuss Terminal Petikemas, a non-profitable
container service company.

A weaker rupiah also boosted sales, as the company received
dollars for its service.

For the year, Humpuss Intermoda expects net profit to climb to
Rp 160 billion.

For next year, it expects earnings to reach Rp 215 billion
assuming continued strong dollar earnings.

Budhi said that Humpuss planned to realign its business
strategy to the upcoming new oil and gas law, since Pertamina
would no longer hold the monopoly over the distribution of oil
and gas products.

He admitted that the company's operations depended on
contracts with Pertamina.

But the law, he said, would allow Humpuss to directly offer
its services to Pertamina's production sharing partners.

"However, Pertamina's shipping division will then turn into a
competitor," he added.

Pertamina's production sharing partners would also have the
opportunity to offer their shipping services here.

"We've talked to several oil and gas companies and some
already own shipping fleets," he explained.

According to him, oil and gas companies like Beyond Petroleum
(BP) and Shell are bound to enter the Indonesian shipping
transportation business.

Budhi said he hoped the government would protect the local
shipping industry from domination by foreign fleets.(bkm)