Teguh Sakti denies losing rights in VDHI

JAKARTA (JP): PT VDH Teguh Sakti denied on Friday claims by PT Jakarta Depot Satelit (JDS) that the company had lost voting rights on its shares in affiliate PT Van der Horst Indonesia (VDHI)

VDHI president Edward S Soeryadjaya said that JDS's claims that VDH Teguh Sakti had lost its voting rights were against the court's decision.

"It is clearly stated in the verdict that Teguh Sakti still maintains its voting rights although the shares have been confiscated by the court," Edward told reporters when he announced the change of VDHI's name to PT Siwani Makmur (SIMA).

In an advertisement that appeared in The Jakarta Post on Thursday, JDS claimed that Teguh Sakti was no longer entitled to use its voting rights in the flexible plastic packaging company because the court had confiscated the shares.

Teguh Sakti lost a legal fight against JDS when the Central Jakarta District Court ordered the company on Nov. 9 to pay compensation of US$11.9 million for its failure to complete the construction of an 80-kilometer pipeline project in West Java owned by JDS.

The court then confiscated Teguh Sakti's 25.5 million shares worth Rp 12.74 billion to ensure that the company would not default the compensation payment.

"However, the court did not take away the company's rights to vote," Teguh Sakti's lawyer, Firmansyah, from the Karim Sani Law Firm, said.

The court maintained Teguh Sakti's voting rights on its confiscated shares as long as Teguh Sakti did not use its rights to transfer its ownership on the shares to other parties," Firmansyah said.

PT Van der Horst Indonesia formally changed its name Friday to PT Siwani Makmur.

The new name would reflect more on the company's name code SIMA at the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchange than the old name, Edward told reporters following a shareholders meeting.

Besides endorsing the new name, the shareholders also approved an increase in the company's authorized capital to Rp 200 billion ($21 million) from Rp 160 billion to anticipate future expansion.

Edward said that the company planned to replace some of its older machines to further increase production capacity.

The company booked a net profit of Rp 7.93 billion between January and June, compared to Rp 3.6 billion during all of 1999, he said. (tnt)