PSN to raise $67m from share listing on Nasdaq

PSN to raise $67m from share listing on Nasdaq

JAKARTA (JP): PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), the
country's first private satellite and telecommunications
operator, expects to raise US$67 million from floating 10.95
million shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market in the United States.

The company's president, Adi R. Adiwoso, said yesterday that
the American Depository Receipts of the Bank of New York will
have its initial public offering and begin trading today on
Nasdaq in relation to the issuance and sale of the PSN shares.

The PSN shares will be sold in 3.65 million American
Depositary Shares (ADSs), covering up over-allotments to
1,642,500 shares at a selling price of US$20 per ADS.

"PSN's entry into Nasdaq provides brokers and others with
immediate access to the best bid and ask prices and other
information about the company's shares throughout the trading
day," Adi said.

He said the company estimated that the public offering would
generate gross proceeds of about $73 million, while expenses
would cost about $6 million.

The company selected Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette as lead
underwriter and Morgan Stanley as co-underwriter.

Adi said his company could not float its shares on domestic
stock exchanges as PSN would fail to meet the requirements from
the country's Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bappepam).

Under the United States' Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles, the company gained profit in 1993 but suffered losses
in 1994 and 1995. In the first three months of 1996, the company
suffered losses of $803 million.

PSN, set up in 1991, is a joint venture between overseas and
domestic firms. The company's shareholders are state-owned PT
Telkom, PT Elektrindo Nusantara, a subsidiary of the Bimantara
Group, PT Skaisnetindo Teknotama, a company owned by Iskandar
Alisjahbana, PT Primaupaya Lintaswara, a company owned by Adi and
Hughes Space and Communications Inc. of the United States,
Telesat Canada and other parties.

PSN provides satellite-based communication services within the
Asia-Pacific region using 44 transponders in four separate
satellites, including 12 in the Palapa-C1 and the Palapa-C2
satellites and 10 in the Palapa-B2P of Indonesia and eight in the
Mabuhay satellites of the Philippines.

Joining with Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co. of the
Philippines and Jasmine International Public Co. Ltd. of
Thailand, PSN has set up PT Asia Cellular Satellite System
(ACeS), a Jakarta-based telecommunications firm which will offer
mobile-satellite-based cellular telecommunications.

"Of the total $67 million in earnings from the initial public
offering, we will use $45 million for equity contribution to
ACeS," Adi said.

ACeS has selected the American defense contractor Lockheed
Martin Corporation as the spacecraft manufacturer, the Russian
Proton rocket for the launch of its Garuda satellite and Ericsson
of the Swedish Telecom group to manufacture the telephone
handsets.

The first Garuda satellite, weighing 4,400 kilograms, will be
placed at a geo-stationary orbit.

"After the first Garuda in orbit, a second satellite will be
launched within the next 12 months," he said.

ACeS's $1-billion project will allow any person with a hand-
held device to communicate directly with another person carrying
a similar device within the satellite coverage in Asia and,
through ground station gateways and normal public switch
telephone networks, to any person with a cellular or fixed
telephone anywhere in the world.

The satellite's coverage will encompass India, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, China, South Korea, southern Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Indochina and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (icn)