Sinar Mas to issue 663m new shares

Sinar Mas to issue 663m new shares

JAKARTA (JP): PT Sinar Mas Multiartha, the Sinar Mas Group's
holding company, won the approval of its shareholders yesterday
to issue 663 million new shares for Rp 750 (31 U.S. cents) a
share through a limited offering.

The company said it expected to receive Rp 497.2 billion
through the offering. It plans to use 99.2 percent of the funds
to buy a Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) rights issue, while
0.8 percent will be used to strengthen the capital of its
subsidiary PT Asuransi Sinar Mas.

No details are available on BII's planned rights issue.

Multiartha, once a finance company, has held a 51 percent
stake in BII since the Sinar Mas Group's restructuring program
early this year.

The company said it would attach one warrant share to every
ten rights shares, totaling 99.4 million shares, to sweeten its
offer.

The warrants can converted for Rp 1,000 between May 28, 1997,
and Nov. 28, 2001.

Multiartha's total assets were worth Rp 15 trillion on June
30.

In the first six months of this year, the company booked Rp
1.1 trillion in net revenue, compared to Rp 1.9 trillion for the
whole of last year. In the January-June period, it recorded a
consolidated net profit of Rp 180 billion, compared to Rp 236
billion for the whole of 1995. (alo)