Local firms have good prospects to sell shares

Local firms have good prospects to sell shares

JAKARTA (JP): Charles Balfour, a senior vice president of the
New York-based Nasdaq Stock Market, sees promising prospects for
Indonesian stocks on the U.S. capital market.

Balfour said here yesterday that demand for Indonesian stocks
is considerably high in line with the growing interest on the
part of American investors to access to the country's economy.

"We are anticipating more Indonesian companies to come in to
fulfill the growing demand," he said.

He said that Indonesian firms are unlikely to face
difficulties in listing their shares on U.S. stock exchanges as
long as they are able to abide by the full disclosure requirement
set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S.
administration's agency overseeing capital market activities.

Balfour said that other prerequisites, such as listing
requirements, will not become a big problem as most stock
exchanges in the United States have a special section for small
capitalized companies.

He said the recent listing of PT Tripolyta Indonesia on the
Nasdaq had won a positive response from the market, as reflected
by the encouraging performance of its share prices.

Tripolyta, a major producer of polypropylene resins,
petrochemical plastics used in the manufacture of a wide range of
consumer products, is the first Indonesian company listed on a
U.S. stock exchange.

The state-owned international telecommunications company PT
Indosat, which is now in the process of a public offering, is
expected to follow suit soon. The company plans to cross-list its
shares on the Jakarta and the New York Stock Exchanges (NYSE).

"Nasdaq is expecting more Indonesian companies in the coming
years," he said in an interview with The Jakarta Post and Kompas
dailies.

Balfour, who is here on a business trip, was accompanied by
Nasdaq's Business Development Director Patrick N.S. Sutch during
the interview.

Asian firms

Balfour said that it is a matter of time before Asian
companies, including those from Indonesia, tap the potential of
the capital market in the United States.

Asian companies must have a great amount of funds to enable
them to get involved in the region's rapid economic activities,
especially those related to the infrastructure development in the
region, Sutch said.

"They have to obtain a great amount of investment funds from a
major capital market, such as that in the United States," he
said.

Nasdaq, the fastest growing stock market in the U.S. and the
world's first electronically equipped stock exchange, began
operating in 1971.

Balfour said the Nasdaq is the largest stock exchange in the
world in terms of the number of listed firms and the second
largest in terms of dollar volume, after the NYSE and ahead of
the London and Tokyo exchanges.

There are 316 non-U.S. based companies listed on the Nasdaq at
present, including 25 from Asia and 11 from Australia.

The trading volume of the Nasdaq reached $638.8 billion as of
May, as compared to $1.07 trillion in the NYSE, $448.2 billion in
London and $390.4 billion in Tokyo.

The Nasdaq has two trading segments -- the Nasdaq National,
which at present includes 3,400 companies, and the Nasdaq
SmallCap Market, with more than 1,350 companies. (hen)