Indosat to raise up to Rp 5t from bond issue

JAKARTA (JP): In addition to a bond offering, international telephone call operator PT Indosat will also issue rights shares to help finance its massive expansion plan, the company's top executive said here on Friday.

Indosat president Hari Kartana said the planned rights shares would account for about 5 percent of the company's total shares.

Details of the rights shares are currently being prepared, he said. He also said Indosat would raise between Rp 3 billion and Rp 5 billion in fresh funds from the bond offering in the first half of next year.

In a hearing with the House of Representatives last week, Indosat said it planned to spend from Rp 10 trillion to Rp 15 trillion to finance its expansion over the next five years.

Approximately Rp 319 billion will go toward its existing international direct dialing (IDD) business, and Rp 202 billion will go into the Internet and multimedia sector.

The publicly listed state company plans to invest Rp 6.74 trillion in five areas next year. These areas are its existing businesses, mobile phone services, telecommunications infrastructure, domestic call services and the Internet and multimedia.

Indosat will spend another Rp 2.89 trillion in 2002, Rp 1.45 trillion in 2003, Rp 1.39 trillion in 2004 and Rp 1.13 trillion in 2005, the company said.

Hari said on Friday the company will also sell a portion of its stakes in its subsidiaries to help finance the expansion program.

The company owns a minority stake in cell phone concern PT Telkomsel and runs Internet service provider PT Indosatnet. Indosat, which is 75 percent owned by the government, plans to spend a further Rp 716 billion next year on fixed-line infrastructure.

Indosat reported on Wednesday a consolidated unaudited profit of Rp 1.35 trillion during the first nine months of this year, an increase of 13 percent from the same period last year.(hen)