Medco gets $300m via secondary offering

Medco gets $300m via secondary offering

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

PT Medco Energi Internasional, the country's largest private,
locally controlled oil and gas firm, has raised some US$300
million with its divestment of more than a billion shares at
discounted prices, prompting a fall in its market price.

The offering included some 899 million common shares, which
were sold at Rp 2,850 (29 U.S. cents) per share -- 25 percent
lower than the closing price of Rp 3,775 on Thursday -- the
company said in an emailed statement on Friday.

The rest of the stocks, amounting to almost 135 million common
shares, were offered as global depositary shares (GDS) at $14.50
each.

One GDS is equivalent to 50 common shares.

The common shares are listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange,
and the GDSs, when issued, are expected to be listed and traded
in Luxembourg, the statement said.

Through the secondary offering, founding family Panigoro's
shareholdings were reduced to 54.5 percent from the previous 85.5
percent. The oil and gas firm's free float shares, which can be
traded by the public, were raised to 38 percent from 5 percent
before the divestment.

Merril Lynch International and Credit Suisse First Boston
(CSFB) assisted the offering as joint global coordinators and
bookrunners.

Medco's share price took a nosedive after the pricing
announcement to Rp 3,200 on Friday, 15.2 percent lower than the
closing price the previous day -- the biggest loss in six years,
according to Bloomberg data.

Earlier this year, the Panigoro family returned as the
majority shareholder in Medco when it bought a 60 percent stake
in New Links Energy Resources, which then controlled 86 percent
of the company.

The founding family purchased the shares for about $340
million from Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production Pcl. and
CSFB.

Medco reported an audited net income of $19.9 million in the
first quarter of the year, slightly lower than the $20.1 million
booked in the same period last year, due to higher costs and
taxes.

Rising oil prices boosted Medco's net revenues by 18 percent
in the three months ending March 31 to $130.5 million from $110.6
million in the corresponding period the previous year.