Plaza Indonesia eyes sites of two other embassies

JAKARTA (JP): The publicly-listed PT Plaza Indonesia Realty is seeking another chance to take over the sites of two other foreign embassies after successfully acquiring the former land of the Australian embassy two years ago.

Plaza Indonesia director Boyke Gozali said yesterday that the company, controlled by the Bimantara Group, is unlikely to face a problem in taking over the site of the former Soviet embassy.

"The site of the former Soviet embassy is now under the control of Bimantara. So it is only a matter of time until we own the plot of land," he told reporters following the annual meeting of the company's shareholders.

Boyke said that Bimantara, the majority of which is owned by Bambang Trihatmodjo, one of President Soeharto's three sons, had already acquired the 1.9-hectare site of the former Soviet embassy under a deal, which allowed the Russians to have another plot on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Difficult

He, however, said that unlike the site of the former Soviet embassy, taking over the site of the Japanese embassy will be difficult.

"We have been lobbying Japanese officials to buy their embassy's site but there has been no response so far," he said, while indicating the blue print of the company's long-term expansion program, which already includes the former sites of the embassies of Australia and the former Soviet Union.

The former site of the Australian embassy is located right next door to the Grand Hyatt hotel and its adjacent modern shopping complex on Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Plaza Indonesia's main properties, while those of the Japanese and the Soviet embassies are located on the next two plots of land.

Boyke said that the company is now preparing the second phase of its expansion project on the former site of the Australian embassy, which it bought at US$5,000 per square meter two years ago.

The Australian embassy is now located on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said.

Boyke said that the expansion, which will start by the end of the year, will include the construction of a seven-floor shopping complex, a 45-floor apartment block and a 48-floor office building.

The expansion, which will cost the company around US$225 million, is scheduled for completion in 1999, he said.

Boyke explained that around 40 percent of the funds for the financing of the expansion project will be in the form of equity and the other 60 percent of bank loans.

Plaza Indonesia is listed on Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges. Bimantara and Sinar Mas Group have the majority of shares in it.

The company's assets rose by around 20 percent to Rp 745.39 billion (US$338.8 million) as of last year from Rp 613.99 billion as of 1993. Its net profits increased by around 30 percent to Rp 31.77 billion last year from Rp 23.96 billion in 1993.

Yesterday's meeting endorsed the management's proposal for the distribution of dividends of Rp 30 (1.3 U.S. cents) per share. (hen)