Medco denies takeover deal

Medco denies takeover deal

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed oil and gas company PT Medco
Energy Corp. has denied that the company is planning to buy part
of petrochemical firm PT Chandra Asri.

The company's finance and administration director, Sugiharto,
made the remarks Tuesday to counter a press report which said
that the company was about to buy a 25 percent stake in Chandra
Asri.

Sugiharto however neither denied nor confirmed that the
founder and majority shareholder of Medco Energy, Arifin
Panigoro, was currently thinking about buying a stake in the
company.

"But Arifin Panigoro is different from Medco Energy. He does
not represent Medco Energy in his plan to buy Chandra Asri
shares," Sugiharto said.

Arifin controls 63.1 percent of Medco Energy.

Chandra Asri, which has production facilities in Merak,
Cilegon, West Java, is owned by noted tycoons Bambang
Trihatmodjo, Henry Pribadi, Prajogo Pangestu, Anthony Salim,
Sudwikatmono and Japanese companies Marubeni Corp. and Showa
Denko KK. (jsk)