Indosat denies second public offer plan

JAKARTA (JP): PT Indosat, the state-owned international telecommunications provider, denied yesterday it would launch a second public offering later this year.

Its investor relations manager, Budi Prasetyo, said here that Indosat, which launched an initial public offering (IPO) two years ago, would not need fresh funds for its expansion program.

"We have spent the funds raised from the IPO, but our internal funds are enough to finance our prospective projects and plans," he told The Jakarta Post.

SBC Warburg, a Swiss securities firm, reported recently that Indosat would launch a secondary offering by the fourth quarter of this year, raising about $400 million in fresh funds.

Indosat is listed on the Jakarta, Surabaya and New York stock exchanges.

"If we did launch a second offering, it will not be this year," Budi said

Indosat raised about US$799 million from the sale of about 25 percent of its 1.03 billion ordinary shares through the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in October 1994 and around Rp 650 billion from the sale of another 10 percent on local markets.

The shares sold through the NYSE were the government's shares while those sold at home were new shares.

The proceeds from the sale of the government's shares were used to pay off some of the government's high-interest loans.

Indosat booked a consolidated net profit of Rp 132.4 billion in the first three months this year, 15.5 percent more than the same period last year.

The company had a 14 percent increase in net profit in 1996 -- less than the 59 percent increase in 1995 -- to Rp 523.5 billion Rp 459.4 billion in 1995. (icn)