Pre-qualification for Indosat bid to start

JAKARTA (JP): The government is moving ahead with plans to further divest its holding in the publicly listed international telecommunications provider PT Indosat, with the pre- qualification process for potential strategic investors to start on Saturday.

The office of the State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises said on Friday that the privatization process was expected to be completed in June 1999.

It has appointed Goldman Sachs, and state-owned securities firms PT Bahana and PT Danareksa as the financial advisors for Indosat's privatization.

The statement did not say how many shares the government would sell, but state minister Tanri Abeng said in the middle of this month that it would only divest 15 percent in the current fiscal year, ending in March.

The government holds 65 percent of Indosat, which went public in 1994 and is currently listed on the Jakarta and New York Stock Exchanges.

Indosat is currently in the process of acquiring several related businesses to boost its value prior to the sale.

The government is planning to partially privatize 10 state- owned companies in the current fiscal year to help finance the state budget.

The initial target was to sell 12 state-owned companies to raise US$1.5 billion, but the ministers subsequently reversed the decision, citing the current bearish market conditions and regulatory obstacles as the main reasons.

The government raised some $114.6 million from the first privatization deal late last month, in which it sold 14 percent of publicly listed cement maker PT Semen Gresik to Mexico's Cemex SA de CV.

In addition to Indosat, other state-owned companies in the mining and plantation sectors are being prepared to follow Semen Gresik, including publicly listed tin giant PT Tambang Timah. (rei)