KL's TA stockbrokers expand into RI

KL's TA stockbrokers expand into RI

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian-based TA Securities yesterday
said it was buying an 85 percent stake in an Indonesian
stockbroking firm, Swadana Cipta Efekindo (SCE), to become the
third brokerage to expand into Indonesia in the last three
months.

TA Securities, through its listed parent company, TA
Enterprise Bhd., will pay Rp 442 million or about 574,000 ringgit
(US$229,600), to vendors PT Pradja Farma Hoslab and Tjipto
Pusposuharto for the stake in SCE.

"The move will enable us to expand our stockbroking business
into Indonesia and allow Malaysian clients to invest in the
Jakarta stock market and Indonesian clients to invest here," said
the Malaysian stockbrokerage in a report to the Kuala Lumpur
Stock Exchange.

SCE, which has been trading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange
since 1989, would become a subsidiary of TA Enterprise.

TA Enterprise, one of seven listed brokerages on the local
bourse, closed yesterday 20 sen higher at 15.40 ringgit on the
local bourse, after gaining 40 sen to 15.20 ringgit the previous
day.

Two firms

TA's decision comes two months after two Malaysian firms
formed alliances with Indonesian groups to set up stockbrokerages
in Indonesia to tap the potential of Jakarta's securities
industry.

Rashid Hussain Bhd., which owns Malaysia's leading broking
house by the same name, bought a 70 percent stake in the joint
venture firm RHB Securities Jakarta, with the Suwoto family of
Indonesia owning the remaining stake.

Another Malaysian firm, Waterfront group, headed by Chua Mah
Yu, a former partner in Rashid Hussain, linked up with
Indonesia's PT Paramount Securities to form Waterfront Securities
Indonesia.

Analysts see these links as strategic investments for those
prepared to take a long-term view of Jakarta's gradually rising
potential.

These cross-border linkages were formed following a bilateral
pact signed in January this year for more cooperation in the
banking and financial services sector.