Medco's founders to sell 32% stake

Medco's founders to sell 32% stake

JAKARTA: PT Medco Energi Internasional's founding family plans to sell 32.4 percent of Indonesia's largest publicly traded oil company in Luxembourg and use the proceeds to pay Medco's debt and buy oil fields overseas.

The Panigoro family will sell the shares next month, Medco's President Director Hilmi Panigoro said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The family has hired Merrill Lynch & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston and United Overseas Bank Ltd. to sell the shares, he said.

At today's closing price the stake sale will be valued at Rp 3.7 trillion (US$385 million). The Panigoro family plans to use part of the proceeds to pay $478 million of debt and buy an oil field in the Middle East.

The company's shares fell 2.8 percent to Rp 3,425 on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Medco's profit last year rose 30 percent to $70.1 million, more than some analysts expected. The mean of six analysts' estimates in a Thomson Financial survey was for a profit of $56 million. -- Bloomberg