Nusamba confirms plan to acquire stake in Astra

JAKARTA (JP): PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti (Nusamba), a business group controlled by foundations headed by President Soeharto, has confirmed its plan to take over a majority stake in PT Astra International.

Bob Hasan, a Nusamba commissioner, said that Astra, the country's largest automotive company is a healthy business entity to be part of.

"Buying Astra shares will be for a long-term investment. In addition, we also intend to help further develop the automotive company," he was quoted by Kompas as saying yesterday.

Nusamba, which is 80 percent owned by foundations controlled by Soeharto, 10 percent by his eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto and another 10 percent by Bob, has a wide range of business interests, from plantations to financial activities.

Bob did not elaborate on the amount of Astra shares Nusamba planned to buy. But he said that Nusamba would buy all the Astra shares available on the market.

The price of Astra shares continued to gain ground following reports of takeover plans by a number of Indonesian business tycoons in the last few weeks. The price has risen by 50 percent since September to Rp 3,550 on Thursday. The stock price continued gaining ground yesterday to close at Rp 3,950 following the fresh takeover reports.

Late last month, Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti (Tutut) Hardiyanti Rukmana was reported to have formed an alliance with Nusamba to take over a majority stake in the automotive company.

Tutut was reported to have negotiated to acquire a 10.68 percent stake in Astra from Prayogo Pangestu's Delta Mustika. Prayogo, the chairman of the Barito Group, is now the largest shareholder in the automotive company.

Nusamba planned to buy another 10 percent stake from state- owned companies. Tutut was not available for an immediate comment but Bob said last week that Nusamba had no interest at all in buying Astra shares.

His statement published by Kompas yesterday was otherwise contradictory to his previous statement.

The news of the plan of the President's family and his foundations to acquire Astra shares emerged in the wake of the buying spree made by tobacco tycoon Putera Sampoerna in the automotive company's stocks.

Putera, the chairman of HM Sampoerna, one of the country's largest clove-blended cigarette manufacturers, later confirmed that he had bought 9.81 percent of Astra shares. The cigarette producer's wholly-owned Dutch subsidiary bought another 2.85 percent, making Putera and his company the largest shareholder in the automotive company.

In his latest statement, Bob said that it will not be a problem for his company even if it becomes a minority shareholder in Astra, whose shares have in the last several weeks, become the target of speculative trading.

"If we are able to enter the company (Astra), we will forge a strategic alliance with other shareholders and then make joint efforts to improve its profitability," he said. "If such a strategy is made, all shareholders will benefit from it."

He acknowledged that Nusamba, at present, did not have even a single share in the automotive company but he emphasized that his company had already "approached" the existing shareholders to buy their stocks.

Astra posted a 17.18 percent increase in its consolidated net revenue to Rp 6.84 trillion (US$2.9 billion) in the first semester of this year, but saw an almost flat net profit, at Rp 182.83 billion. its total assets reached Rp 17.5 trillion as of June, up by Rp 1.85 trillion from December's position.

Positive reaction

Commenting on Bob's contradictory statements, an official at the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) said that there was nothing wrong because none of the two different statements can be categorized as misleading information.

"On the contrary, I would say that has Bob just done something very positive," the chief of Bapepam's Corporate Finance Division I, Herwidayatmo, told journalists.

He said that, unlike other investors, Bob disclosed his intention before executing his plan to acquire Astra shares.

"It's exactly what Bapepam wants investors to do!" he added.

Herwidayatmo declined any speculation that Nusamba might have acquired Astra shares before Bob made the statement.

He said that although Bob had bought Astra shares, he could not be blamed for violating any rules as long as his share ownership did not exceed 5 percent of the total outstanding shares.

Bob cannot be charged in the event that he might have owned more than a 5 percent stake in Astra on condition that he discloses his position to the agency within 10 days after achieving the 5 percent ownership.

Herwidayatmo also said that Bob's first statement that he had no plan to control Astra, should be accepted positively with an assumption that he could change his mind.

Meanwhile, a JSX director, Mas Achmad Daniri, said that Bob's statement was categorized as public information which could help explain Astra share price increase yesterday.

JSX, according to Daniri, therefore did not take any action such as suspending Astra shares' trading. (hen/alo)