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.