Sudwikatmono, Bambang resign from Tri Polyta
JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo and cousin Sudwikatmono resigned yesterday from publicly listed petrochemical firm PT Tri Polyta Indonesia amid growing public demands for an investigation into the family's wealth.
Bambang resigned as chief commissioner and Sudwikatmono resigned as president director at the company's shareholders meeting.
The shareholders meeting then elected Markus Hartanto, previously vice president, as new president and named Peter F Gontha a temporary chief commissioner until the company holds an extraordinary shareholders meeting in three month's time.
Gontha, a long-term ally of Bambang, explained that Bambang resigned because he had to take care of his own business and family and allow other young professionals to steer the chemical company.
"He (Bambang) has other businesses to take care of other than Tri Polyta Indonesia and Bimantara Citra... So, he's letting us take care of them," he said.
Bambang's resignation yesterday followed a similar move late last month when he resigned from the widely diversified Bimantara Citra as president. His brother-in-law, Indra Rukmana, married to Bambang's eldest sister Siti Hardijanti, resigned as Bimantara Citra's chief commissioner.
An analyst with a joint venture securities firm said Bambang's and Sudwikatmono's resignation from Tri Polyta would not affect the company significantly because they still had stakes in the company.
"But their names, which used to be valuable assets when Soeharto was still in power, have now become liabilities," the analyst said.
Certain companies linked to Soeharto have come under public scrutiny since the former five-star general handed over power to his protege and deputy, B.J. Habibie, on May 21 after ruling the country for 32 years.
Bambang Trihatmodjo has a 31.22 percent stake in Tri Polyta through PT Bima Kimia Citra. Bima Kimia is 19 percent owned by Bimantara Citra.
Sudwikatmono controls 5.31 percent of Tri Polyta.
Other shareholders are Prajogo Pangestu with 8.51 percent, Henry Pribadi 6.73 percent, Ibrahim Risjad 5.31 percent, Wilson Pribadi 3.89 percent, Andry Pribadi 3.54 percent, Henry Liem 3.54 percent, Johny Djuhar 2.13 percent, Henry Halim 0.71 percent, company employees 0.08 percent and the public with 29.03 percent.
Tri Polyta is listed both on the New York and Jakarta stock exchanges.
Markus said the country's dire economic condition would cause the company to face a bleak prospect this and next year due to a sharp decline in domestic demand for its product, polypropylene.
The company recorded a net loss of Rp 559.5 billion in the first quarter this year compared to a meager loss of Rp 26.7 billion in the same period last year.
Tri Polyta, the plants of which are located in Cilegon, West Java, produces around 370,000 tons of polypropylene resins.
Chandra Asri
Gontha said that not only Tri Polyta, but the country's sole olefin firm PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Center, in which Bimantara has also a stake, also faced dire problems.
He said Chandra Asri, the plants of which are adjacent to Tri Polyta's, might stop production in the next three to four months if the economic situation deteriorated further.
The rupiah's sharp depreciation against the U.S. dollar to the 16,000 level yesterday from 2,450 in July last year, has made it unprofitable for Chandra Asri to import raw materials.
"There will be no single industry able to continue production if the rupiah continues to sink against the dollar," he noted.
He said even if Chandra Asri boosted its exports to offset the decline in the domestic market, it would not help much because other Asian countries had also felt the pinch of the crisis in the region.
Chandra Asri currently exports 60 percent of its petrochemical products. The remaining 40 percent is set aside for the domestic market.
The company posted a pretax loss of US$84 million last year against 1996's $120 million loss, while accumulated losses totaled $475 million as of the end of last year, up from $391 million the previous year.
Chandra Asri is 23.8 percent owned by a Japanese consortium lead by Marubeni, 29.4 percent by Barito Pacific group controlled by Prajogo Pangestu, 22 percent by Bimantara Group, 9.8 percent by the Napan Group and the remaining 15 percent by a group of Indonesian banks. (aly)