Taspen pulls out of five companies

Taspen pulls out of five companies

JAKARTA (JP): PT Taspen, the state-owned company handling life insurance and pensions for civil servants, has pulled out its equity participation in five companies, says the top executive of the company.

Taspen's president, Purwanto Abdulcadir, said here yesterday that the pullout was in line with the company's program to reduce its direct investments in other companies.

He did not explain the total value of its equity pullback but said that it was part of Taspen's direct investment standing of around Rp 581 billion (US$262 million), as of last December.

The five companies include Bukaka, Continental Carbon Indonesia, Gunung Agung, Lami Citra, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI) and Primarindo.

Purwanto said that Taspen's equity participation in 12 other companies is being maintained as most of them still provide significant dividends.

The 12 companies include Bank Kesejahteraan, Barito Pacific Timber, Bhineka Melta Group, Intama, Marga Mandala Sakti, Multi Anggana Garda, Pasaraya, Satria Balitama, Primarindo Finance, Artaloka building, Arti Sangga and Puri Pancajasa.

As of last December, Taspen put seven percent of its total investments of around Rp 8.3 trillion ($3.85 billion) into direct investments.

Another 17 percent of the investments are placed in time- deposits, 13 percent in bonds, nine percent in listed shares and 54 percent in Bank Indonesia's Certificates, short-term commercial papers of the central bank.

Taspen's net profits, which significantly dropped to Rp 39.8 billion in 1993 from Rp 71.5 billion in 1993, rose slightly to Rp 51.7 billion last year. (hen)