Pasaraya Nusakarya to go public soon

JAKARTA (JP): PT Pasaraya Nusakarya, a retail company owned by the ALatieF Corporation, is to offer its shares to the public through the Jakarta Stock Exchange to raise funds of over Rp 100 billion (US$42 million) to finance an expansion project.

"We are going to open new outlets in Jakarta and other big cities, including Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi next year," the company's president, Usman Ja'far, said yesterday.

Usman explained that the government-owned PT Bahana Securities, will manage his company's share issuance, which is still subject to approval from the Capital Market Supervisory Agency.

Pasaraya Nusakarya, according to Usman, booked Rp 250 billion in total sales last year, compared to Rp 196 billion in 1994 and Rp 133 billion in 1993.

"Our profits increased from Rp 14 billion in 1994 to Rp 18 billion last year," Usman said.

Pasaraya Nusakarya, which was established 22 years ago under the name of Sarinah Jaya by Abdul Latief, presently the minister of manpower, now has two department stores -- Mega Pasaraya Blok M and Pasaraya Sultan Agung. Both are in Jakarta and have a combined floor area of 130,000 square meters.

"Total investment in the two department stores has exceeded Rp 470 billion, 35 percent of which is equity," Usman said.

Usman also confirmed that Pasaraya Nusakarya is 100 percent owned by the ALatieF Corporation.

"Pasaraya Nusakarya has a stake in PT Pasaraya Toserajaya which is also owned by three state-owned companies, PT Taspen, PT Astek and PT Jasaraharja.

"So, it's now clear that no state-owned companies have shares in Pasaraya Nusakarya."

Pasaraya Toserajaya is a property company which owns the buildings of Pasaraya Nusakarya's department stores. (alo)