Prajogo to acquire Malaysian firm at $1b

Prajogo to acquire Malaysian firm at $1b

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Indonesian timber tycoon Prajogo Pangestu
would expand his acquisition of a publicly-listed Malaysian firm
under a deal that could be worth up to 2.56 billion ringgit (US$1
billion), a report said yesterday.

Prajogo, the world's biggest plywood exporter, would inject
more of his timber-related assets into Construction and Supplies
House Bhd. (CASH) in the largest ever cross-border acquisition on
the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, the Business Times said.

Under the original 700 million ringgit (US$280 million) deal
announced in February, Prajogo and his wife, Harlina Tjandinegara
Pangestu, were to sell assets to CASH in exchange for shares that
will give Prajogo a controlling stake in the Malaysian firm.

The assets were in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and China.

But the Business Times, quoting sources, said Prajogo would
further sell a major stake in one of his companies in the Barito
Pacific group in exchange for more CASH shares under the expanded
deal.

It was believed the deal, slated to be concluded today here,
would also be financed by a cash payment and perhaps a stock
issue, the sources said.

Among the Barito Pacific companies is Prajogo's flagship PT
Barito Pacific Timber, which was recently listed on the Jakarta
Stock Exchange, and accounts for about 10 percent of the
Indonesian bourse's market capitalization.

CASH is controlled by its politically-connected managing
director, Joseph Ambrose Lee Yok Min, who indicated last month
that the deal would be "substantially bigger than first
envisaged."

The transaction is the latest in a series of large timber-
related reverse takeovers on the local bourse but is the first in
which a Malaysian company is being acquired by foreign timber
interests.