Listed firms told to sell shares to cooperatives

Listed firms told to sell shares to cooperatives

JAKARTA (JP): Listed companies are strongly urged to sell a
portion of their shares to 617 new village cooperative units
throughout the country in an effort to help develop small-scale
businesses.

Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto
Tjakrawerdaya said here yesterday that the policy, which was
actually introduced by President Soeharto earlier in the 1990s,
should be seen as a nationwide commitment to helping small-scale
businesses.

"We expect that this year all the listed companies will
participate in the program," he told 100 executives of listed
companies at an open talk at the headquarters of the stock market
supervisory board (Bapepam).

During the talk, which was chaired by Bapepam chairman
Bacelius Ruru, the minister said that the government will not
limit the number of the shares to be offered to cooperatives.

"In the first stage, we hope that the companies can sell from
one to five percent of their total listed shares," he added.
"Ideally, they can offer some 25 percent of their total shares to
the cooperatives," he told The Jakarta Post after yesterday's
talk.

He said that the listed companies are allowed to sell their
shares at the nominal price.

He added that his ministry had evaluated the performance of
all cooperatives in the country. "And of around 34,000
cooperatives currently operating, 617 are now in a good position
to buy the shares," he said.

He noted that since 1990 there had only been 1,610
cooperatives owning shares of listed and unlisted companies.

Subiakto said that his ministry, in cooperation with Bapepam,
will soon issue new rulings on the implementation of share
ownership by cooperatives.

Most executives of the listed companies welcomed the
government's appeal.

"The policy will have a constructive impact on the development
of the country's stock exchange," Charles Queljoe, president of
Lippo securities, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

"Some of Lippo's subsidiaries, I know, have sold their shares
to cooperatives. And we are committed to continuing the move," he
added.

Jacob Kangjaya, PT Bayu Buana's director for planning and
development, told the Post that his company will first study the
rules of the game to be issued on the share ownership by
cooperatives. (fhp)