Malaysian-RI firm buys 40% of Sempati Air
Malaysian-RI firm buys 40% of Sempati Air
JAKARTA(JP): Sempati Air, a domestic private airline, has agreed to sell 40 percent of its shares to Asian Aviation Inc., a Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture, in a bid to increase its capital before floating its stock on capital markets.
A Sempati spokesman, Gde Suardhika, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that Asian Aviation is scheduled to complete transactions on the share acquisition within 10 days after Sempati's shareholders meeting on April 2.
"Within 14 days after the meeting, Sempati must report the deal to the Ministry of Justice," he said.
Gde refused, however, to disclose how much money Asia Aviation will have to pay for the share acquisition.
An aviation analyst told the Post that the majority of the shares of Asian Aviation are controlled by Indonesian parties.
The company is based in the Malaysian city of Labuan, a financial center, where company owners are well-protected by Malaysia, the analyst said.
Sempati, set up eight years ago, is 25 percent owned by Humpuss Group, a diversified business conglomerate controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, 40 percent by PT Tri Usaha Bhakti, a holding company of the Armed Forces, and 35 percent by timber tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan.
With the share acquisition announced, Sempati will be 40 percent owned by Asian Aviation, 25 percent by Tri Usaha Bhakti, 20 percent by Hasan and 15 percent by Humpuss.
Gde said that Asian Aviation has been a longstanding partner of Sempati in the operation and maintenance of aircraft.
"Asian Aviation is the lessor for some of the aircraft operated by Sempati," he said.
"The relationship between the companies has been very good so far and the stake acquisition will form a good synergy."
He said that after the stake acquisition, Sempati's paid-up capital will increase to about Rp 210 billion (US$90 million) from Rp 50 billion ($21 million).
Asian Aviation was estimated to pay Sempati about Rp 84 billion for the shares.
Gde said that due to the participation of Asian Aviation as its new strategic shareholder, Sempati is expected to gain a profit of Rp 80 billion ($43 million) this year, as compared to Rp 26 billion ($11 million) in 1995.
Meanwhile, Sempati's president, Hasan M. Soedjono, said that his company is scheduled to list its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in early October.
He said Sempati has selected PT Bahana Sekuritas as lead underwriter and PT Pentasena Securities as financial advisor for the planned initial public offering.
Sempati plans to offer about 20 percent of its shares to the public to raise about Rp 300 billion in fresh funds.
Sempati currently operates five Fokker 27 aircraft, seven Fokker 100s, eight Boeing 737-200s, two Fokker 70s and three Airbus 300-B4s.
Sempati's shareholders agreed on the airline's plan to procure three wide-body jets, like Airbus A-330s, A-330s or Boeing B-777s and 10 smaller aircraft like Fokker F-100s. (icn)