Sisindosat looking for strategic partners

Sisindosat looking for strategic partners

JAKARTA (JP): PT Sisindosat Lintasbuana, a sister company of
state-owned PT Indosat, is looking for strategic partners to
enhance the performance of its value-added telecommunications
services.

"Strategic alliances are inevitable in this competitive
telecommunications and information technology market,"
Sisindosat's president, A.M. Suseto, said yesterday.

After finding one or more qualified partners, Sisindosat would
then plan to float its shares, he announced during an seminar on
Ungerman Bass technology networking products at the Aryaduta
Hotel.

Indonesian telecommunications firms usually offer between 20
percent and 30 percent of their shares through direct placement
to selected bidders, mainly a combination of foreign and domestic
enterprises.

"There are several parties from Europe, the United States and
other countries which have proposed partnerships with
Sisindosat," Suseto disclosed, adding that a special team had
been established to prepare the strategic alliances.

He said that providing multimedia services was also in
Sisindosat's development plan.

Sisindosat was established in April 1990, by Indosat and
several other domestic companies to supply telecommunications and
information technology services.

Indosat acquired a 60 percent interest in Sisindosat last
year. It bought the stake for US$2.3 million from Yakindosat, its
employee welfare foundation. Sisindosat is now 60 percent owned
by Indosat, 1 percent by Yakindosat and 39 percent by Indosat's
employee cooperative, Kopindosat.

Sisindosat's clients include the country's central bank, Bank
Indonesia, the Ministry of Finance, the state-owned oil company
Pertamina, Sempati Air and the Ministry of Defense and Security.

Subsidiaries

According to Suseto, his company, which holds current assets
of Rp 48 billion ($20.5 million), has four subsidiaries or
affiliates -- PT Sistelindo, PT EDI Indonesia, PT Graha Lintas
Properti and the U.S.-based Global Link.

Sisindosat has a majority stake of 35 percent in Sistelindo,
which provides Internet services in cooperation with IBM; a 49
percent share of EDI, which offers electronic data interchanges
at the Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta; a 35 percent stake in
Graha Lintas, which will develop a 29-story building equipped
with computer and communication systems; and a 20 percent share
of Global Link, an integrated telecommunications service
provider.

In 1995, Sisindosat earned $10.2 million in revenue and
$260,000 in profit. (icn)