Mar'ie says laws don't restrict share ownership

Mar'ie says laws don't restrict share ownership

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad reiterated
yesterday that none of the stipulations in the Capital Market Law
No.8/1995 and its implementation rulings restricted share
ownership in companies listed on domestic stock exchanges.

"The only restriction stipulated in the law is the one which
limits foreign ownership to a maximum of 49 percent of the listed
shares," Mar'ie said last night.

He said he hoped this would put to rest the controversy and
answer the many questions raised in recent days about share
ownership restrictions on the stock markets.

The controversy was set off by Minister of Cooperatives
Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya's after a meeting with President Soeharto
on Tuesday.

Subiakto alluded after the meeting that President Soeharto did
not want to see individuals or business groups own more than 15
percent of listed companies.

"The objective is to prevent monopolies and to have corporate
shares equitably owned by the investing public," Subiakto said
when summing up his talks with the President.

Most analysts immediately criticized his remarks as misleading
because share ownership and stock transactions on domestic stock
exchanges are governed by the Capital Market Law.

Mar'ie said the Capital Market Law required transparency and
full disclosures of share acquisition and ownership.

"The law, for example, obliges an investor who acquires up to
5 percent of a listed company to report his transactions to the
Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) within 10 days of the
deal," the finance minister said.

He also cited a provision of the law which required an
investor who buys up to 20 percent of a listed company with a
view to controlling to make an open tender offer.

Mar'ie said a Bapepam ruling also allowed a company making an
initial public offer to issue up to 10 percent of its shares to
its employees in order to broaden the small investor base.

The issue of controlling ownership of a listed company
surfaced last month during the huge Astra International
acquisition by Putra Sampoerna, the chairman of the Sampoerna
cigarette group.

Three foundations chaired by Soeharto later moved in to the
market to buy more than 10 percent of Astra in a bid to dilute
the Sampoerna family's controlling share ownership. (vin)