Shareholders reject Aqua's delisting plan

Mustaqim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A majority of independent shareholders of PT Aqua Golden Mississippi, the country's largest bottled water producer, rejected on Tuesday a proposal to delist the company from the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

In an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Tuesday, which was delayed twice, more than half, or 51.05 percent, of attending independent shareholders vetoed the company's plan to go private.

"The proposal (to delist) was not approved and the company will remain publicly listed. There may not be the possibility of the company proposing delisting," said the company's president director, Willy Sidharta.

The meeting was attended by 98.41 percent of the quorum -- exceeding the Capital Market Supervisory Agency's (Bapepam) requirement of 75 percent. Independent shareholders accounted for 76.88 percent of those in attendance.

The main reason for the rejection was the low price of Rp 100,000 (US$10.20) for each share offered by Aqua. Independent shareholders had request five times that amount due to the brand's established name.

Aqua first planned to delist from the exchange in 2001 but failed to gain approval from its minority shareholders. French- based Danone Asia Pte Ltd is the majority shareholder through PT Tirta Investama.

Willy said the company aimed for a 13 percent volume growth for next year.

"We are optimistic that Aqua will reach 13 percent volume growth per year, 15 percent annual net income growth and 5 percent perpetual growth within the next five years, despite its failure to delist," he added.