Komatsu's 'go private' plan approved

Komatsu's 'go private' plan approved

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Shareholders of publicly listed PT Komatsu Indonesia, a local arm
of Japanese heavy equipment company Komatsu Ltd., agreed on
Wednesday to the company's plan to delist its shares from the
Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) and change its status to a private
foreign investment firm.

At the two-hour extra ordinary shareholders meeting, the
shareholders also agreed to a plan by its principal to make a
tender offer to acquire the shares owned by other investors at a
price of Rp 8,500 (about 84 U.S. cent) each.

Asides from Komatsu Ltd., which owns 68.4 percent of the
company, other shares owners are PT United Tractors (5 percent),
Sumitomo Corp. (4.3 percent), Marubeni Corp. (2.8 percent) and
the public (19.5 percent).

The company's report said its share price was 58.9 percent
higher than the minimum price regulated by the Capital Market
Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) and 48.8 percent higher than the
minimum offering price regulated by JSX.

The offer was also a premium of 58.9 percent to the company's
highest traded price over the last 12 months that stood at Rp
5,350 per share and a 61.9 percent higher than to the last traded
price of Rp 5,250 per share before its trading was suspended by
JSX on Aug. 11, the report said.

"Majority shareholders agreed to the proposed plan. The tender
offer is scheduled to take place between Oct. 20 and Nov. 28. If
the shareholders agreed to sell their shares to our principal,
the payment will be carried out on Dec. 9," said Petra Ho,
Komatsu Indonesia's Public and Investor Relation manager.

Petra elaborated that its parent company would provide over
US$85 million to buy back all the shares from other investors.

"The fund will be provided by our Japanese principal because
the delisting is carried out as part of its global strategy to
make all its subsidiaries more flexible in making their
decisions," she said.

Prior to the JSX, she said, Komatsu Ltd. had delisted its
shares on the Nagoya Stock Exchange, Fukuoka Stock Exchange and
Sapporo Securities Exchange in Japan, as well as the Frankfurt
and Luxembourg bourses in Europe.

"This action doesn't mean that Komatsu Ltd. will withdraw its
investment in the country. It is only to create more flexibility
in further developing its arm companies," she said. (006)