Listed firms win awards

Listed firms win awards

JAKARTA (JP): Ten publicly listed companies, including several
state-owned enterprises, have won awards for implementing good
corporate governance.

The corporate governance awards were distributed by local
corporate governance watchdog the Indonesian Institute for
Corporate Governance (IICG).

The awards were the first of their kind to be given out by the
agency, which plans to grant similar awards annually.

"Hopefully, these awards will help revive investor confidence
in Indonesian companies," Herwidayatmo, chairman of the Capital
Market Supervisory Body (Bappepam), said after the award
presentation ceremony on Thursday.

"Foreign investors only make up less than 10 percent of
capital investment in the Indonesian market, while domestic
players contribute the remaining 90 percent," he added.

The ten companies are state mining company PT Timah,
automotive company PT Astra International, banking firm PT BCA,
banking firm PT Bank CIC, state mining company PT Aneka Tambang,
energy firm Medco Energy International, computer firm Metrodata
Electric, retailer PT Matahari Prima Putra, state drug company PT
Kalbe Farma and the widely diversified business group PT
Bimantara. (10)

;JP;10;
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Bizbrief-Taiwan-RI-export
KDEI aids export to Taiwan
JP/12/Taiwan

KDEI aids export to Taiwan

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Commerce and Economy Body (KDEI)
has launched various programs to help boost Indonesian exports to
Taiwan, KDEI said in a statement on Thursday.

The programs include promotion of Indonesian products in
Taiwan, providing greater information and expanding export
commodities.

KDEI said there was plenty of room to improve trade relations
between the two countries.

In the first quarter of 2001, the value of Indonesia's exports
to Taiwan reached US$832.52 million, while imports from Taiwan
stood at $502.04 million.

Exports included metal ore, coal and shoes.

KDEI also said that it had arranged for Indonesian exporters
to take part in an economic exhibition initiated by the China
External Trade Development Council (CETRA), where as many as 35
countries participated.(10)

;AFP;
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Bizbrief-Japan-telecom
Vodafone buys Japan Telecom
JP/11/Colbox

TOKYO (AFP): Britain's mobile phone giant Vodafone Group plc
said Thursday it would pay up to US$2.6 billion to take control
of Japan Telecom Co, the country's third largest
telecommunications carrier.

In an agreed deal, Vodafone will offer to acquire up to
693,368 Japan Telecom ordinary shares, or 21.7 percent of the
total, for 312 billion yen ($2.6 billion), the British company
said in a statement.

The firm is already Japan Telecom's largest shareholder with a
45 percent stake and the bid, if successful, would boost its
holding to 66.7 percent, giving Vodafone management control. The
British company would also become the largest foreign direct
investor in Japan.

The group has offered 450,000 yen a share, an 18.8 percent
premium on the stock's closing price Thursday of 378,800 yen.

"(It is) a 37 percent premium to the average closing share
price over the 20 trading days up to and including Wednesday 19
September," Vodafone said.

The chairman and president of Japan Telecom will step down to
be replaced by Vodafone-nominated officials once the deal is
finalized, the firms said in a joint statement.

;AP;
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Bizbrief-HK-Telecoms
HK awards 3G licenses
JP/11/Colbox

HONG KONG (AP): Without holding an auction, the Hong Kong
government allocated four third-generation mobile licenses to the
only four companies that bid for them.

The licenses went to Hutchison 3G HK, a venture between local
conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Japan's NTT DoCoMo; CSL
Ltd., a joint venture between Australia's Telstra Corp. and local
carrier Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.; and local firms Smartone
Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. and Sunday Communications Ltd.

Futuristic 3G telephone networks use technology that brings
the Internet to mobile phones, thus allowing users to send large
amounts of information, such as video, though their mobiles.

All the winners in Hong Kong have existing mobile operations
in the Hong Kong market and will be required to prove they are
not linked to other winners before the decision becomes final,
the government said Wednesday.

The licenses should be issued before the end of the year, it
said.

;REUTERS;
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Bizbrief-Japan-EU
Japan Tobacco sues EU
JP/11/Colbox

BRUSSELS (Reuters): Japan Tobacco Inc, makers of Camel,
Winston and Mild Seven cigarettes, said on Thursday it had
launched a legal challenge to a new European Union law banning
terms like "mild" or "light" on cigarette packets.

The law, which was passed earlier this year and is due to come
into force in 2003, will force tobacco companies to display big,
clear health warnings and stop them making claims about the
relative safety of their products.

Japan Tobacco and its JT International subsidiary will argue
at the EU's Court of First Instance that the law will unfairly
ban it from selling Mild Seven, the world's second-best selling
cigarette after Marlboro.

"(The law) would preclude JT and JTI from having in Europe the
benefit of the acquired intellectual property established in the
Mild Seven trademark and cause severe damage to the global value
of the brand as it will no longer be possible to develop and
market it as such," JTI said in a statement.

The law, part of an EU regulatory assault on smoking, has
already been challenged by British American Tobacco Plc and
Imperial Tobacco.

;AFP;
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Bizbrief-S'pore-Mitsui
Mitsui invests in S'pore
JP/11/Colbox

SINGAPORE (AFP): Mitsui Chemicals Inc. of Japan broke ground
Thursday on a US$100-million elastomer plant in Singapore which
will start producing for the global market in 2003.

Officials said the plant, being built on a massive
petrochemical complex off mainland Singapore, will have a
capacity to produce 100,000 tons per year of TAFMER, a patented
plastic product.

TAFMER can be used as a lightweight and flexible molding
material and as a resin modifier which, when used with
polyethylene and polypropylene, improves impact strength and
flexibility, Mitsui officials said.

Mitsui has set up a subsidiary, Mitsui Elastomers Singapore
Pte. Ltd. to operate the plant. About 40 percent of its output
will be destined for Asian markets, 25 percent for Japan, and the
rest for the US and European markets.

The new plant is Mitsui Chemicals' third full-scale
manufacturing facility in Singapore.

;AFP;
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Bizbrief-ADB-chairman
ADB president re-elected
JP/11/Colbox

MANILA (AFX-ASIA): Asian Development Bank said Tadao Chino has
been re-elected as president of the bank for a new five-year
term.

Chino, 67, was gratified by the bank's board of governors'
trust in him and pledged to "maximize ADB's contribution to
freeing the Asia and Pacific region of poverty," ADB said in a
statement.

The bank said that under Chino's leadership, the ADB evolved a
poverty reduction strategy that became its overarching goal.

It also adopted a strategy of strengthening the role of the
private sector as an engine for growth of the region, and set
out on a "long-term strategic framework" for implementing a
poverty reduction program until 2015, it said.