Indofarma to float shares on stock market in April

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Indofarma will become the first state company to go public this year, when Indofarma floats its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) and the Surabaya Stock Exchange (SSX) in April.

Indofarma president Gunawan Pranoto said that Indofarma planned to sell up to 1.462 billion shares during the initial public offering (IPO) to be held next month.

The shares which would comprise of 906.25 million of government shares, and up to 556.09 million of new shares will be offered at a price of between Rp 225 and Rp 415 during the offering period, March 20 to March 22.

The government expects to earn between Rp 203.91 billion (about US$21.46 million) to Rp 376.09 billion from the sale of its shares, which accounts for 45 percent of the company's total stock.

"It (the proceeds of the sale) will go entirely to the state's coffer," he said in a press statement.

Indofarma was one of ten state companies, the government planned to privatize last year. But a lackluster market, had forced the government to delay the privatization program.

Gunawan said the company expected to raise between Rp 125.12 million to Rp 230.78 million from the issuance of new shares.

Of the amount, he said, 53 percent would be used to improve Indofarma's production facilities, and raise its production capacity.

"The remaining 47 percent will be used to increase the company's working capital," he added.

Gunawan said that the company's board of directors would propose allocating 30 percent of Indofarma's net profits for dividend payments.

Indofarma said that for the year 2000, its unaudited pre-tax profit was Rp 158 billion, slightly up from Rp 156 billion in the previous year.

For this year, the company expected pre-tax profits to hit Rp 181 billion.

Sales for year 2000 were estimated at Rp 495 billion from Rp 392 billion in the year before.

This year, Indofarma predicts a surge of 30 percent in sales.

The company has appointed PT Bahana Securities as its lead underwriter.

Indofarma is a manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC), traditional medicines, and clinical equipment. Since June 2000, the company has expanded into the baby food industry.

Indofarma employs 940 full-time workers and 625 part-time workers. Its subsidiaries are medicinal raw material producer PT Riasima Abadi Farma, medicine distributor PT Indofarma Global Medika and drugstore chain PT Asindo Husada Bhakti.

The company was founded in 1918 under the name Pabrik Obat Manggarai, before it was nationalized in 1950. Indofarma adopted its current name in 1996. (bkm)