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; ANPAf..r.. 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; ANPAf..r.. 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; ANPAf..r.. 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; ANPAf..r.. 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; ANPAf..r.. 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; ANPAf..r.. 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.