Pupuk Kaltim awaits Bapepam approval for IPO

Pupuk Kaltim awaits Bapepam approval for IPO

JAKARTA (JP): The registration statement for the initial
public offering (IPO) of state-owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk
Kaltim has been submitted to the Capital Market Supervisory
Agency (Bapepam), a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Secretary to State Minister of Investment and State
Enterprises Development I Nyoman Tjager said the company's IPO
would be launched as soon as the capital market watchdog gave its
green light.

"Pupuk Kaltim will be given the first priority to list its
shares on the stock market before other state companies," he said
on the sidelines of a seminar on state companies' performances.

He said the fertilizer company would sell 35 percent of its
shares on the IPO.

The company recently announced that its unaudited pretax
profit for January to May alone reached about Rp 331 billion,
well above the initial target of Rp 185 billion.

Located in Bontang, East Kalimantan, Pupuk Kaltim operates
three fertilizer plants with a combined production capacity of
1.52 million metric tons of ammonia and 2.41 million tons of urea
a year.

Nyoman said the government was close to finalizing the
preparations for the IPO of two other state companies, chemical
manufacturers PT Indo Pharma and PT Kimia Farma.

The government expects to privatize 10 state-owned companies:
general mining company PT Aneka Tambang; airport operator PT
Angkasa Pura II; coal mining company PT Bukit Asam; plantation
companies PT Perkebunan Nusantara III and IV; fertilizer producer
PT Pupuk Kaltim; pharmaceutical manufacturers PT Indo Farma and
PT Kimia Farma; surveyor firm PT Sucofindo; and trading company
PT Kerta Niaga.

It expects to raise some Rp 6.5 trillion (US$722 million) from
the sales of 10 firms during the April-December 2000 fiscal year.

Nyoman said many foreign investors had shown interest in
particular companies offered in the program.

"Like the asset sales plan for state-owned plantation firms,
many foreign companies, especially from Malaysia, have come to
see me to talk about it," he said.

He said the government had also revived a tender to sell 50
percent of its stake in an airport management company, which had
been delayed for several months.

Nyoman said Dutch Schipol Airport management and French
Aeroport de Paris, for example, would continue their bidding for
the airport operator.

Angkasa Pura II, which reported a pretax income of Rp 287
billion in 1999, currently manages nine airports in the western
part of Indonesia, including Soekarno-Hatta and Halim
Perdanakusuma in Jakarta and Polonia in Medan, North Sumatra.

Nyoman said other progress in the privatization plan was also
seen in the preparation for the sale of stakes in Sucofindo.

He said Sucofindo's existing foreign partner, Societe Generale
de Surveillance (SGS), had expressed interest in buying five
percent of the government's stake in the company to raise its
ownership to between 25 percent and 30 percent.

If the proceeds from the sale of shares in the 10 companies is
not satisfactory, the government will sell its shares in nine
other state-owned companies: listed telecommunications operators
PT Telkom and PT Indosat; retail store PT Sarinah; hotel
management company JIHD; mining company PT Tambang Timah;
strategic industry holding BPIS, fertilizer company PUSRI as well
as hotel and office operators PT Wisma Nusantara and PT
Perhotelan dan Perkantoran Indonesia. (cst)