Mulia Group to sell shares

JAKARTA (JP): Institutional investors of the United States and Europe will purchase approximately 23.75 million shares, or 10.55 percent, of the total equity stocks of the publicly listed Mulia Industrindo.

The company announced on Saturday that the shares will be bought from PT Eka Gunatama Mandiri, a firm owned by one of the company's founders.

The deal, which will be handled by Jardine Fleming Nusantara, will be formally sealed today and will increase the investing public's stock holding to 35.95 percent.

The company, a major producer of ceramic tiles and glass sheets, did not give the price of the stocks, or the names of the buyers.

But it said that approximately US$50 million of the funds, to be raised from the private placement, will be lent to the company to partly finance the expansion of its glass and tile production capacities.

According to the company's 1994 financial report, PT Eka Gunatama Mandiri, an affiliate of the Mulia Group, owned 54 percent of the company's 125 million shares. PT Mulia Graha Permai, another affiliate, owned 26 percent, while the investing public held another 20 percent.

Tony Suryanto, a director of Mulia Industrindo, said that the planned expansion will raise the production capacity of its glass plants by 180,000 tons, to 500,000 tons per year, and its tile plant by 20 million square meters, to 40 million square meters per annum.

He said that Mulia Industrindo will soon sign an agreement on a loan of $115 million from a syndication of local and foreign banks, which will also be used for the expansion program. (hen)