Telkom plans triple listing

Telkom plans triple listing

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) plans to float shares on New York, London and domestic stock exchanges by the end of this year, with four major world investment banks acting as global coordinators for its overseas listings.

The appointed global coordinators include three U.S. investment banks, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Lehman, as well as S.G. Warburg of Britain.

Director General for the Supervision of State Enterprises Martiono Hadianto said yesterday that the "team of seven" -- the government's special team set up to prepare the privatization of state-owned companies -- has also appointed a number of international bodies to support Telkom's public offering.

They include Arthur Andersen of the United States as the auditor and Baker & McKenzie as the legal consultant, said Martiono, the newly appointed chief commissioner of Telkom, which provides domestic telecommunication services.

Martiono, speaking on the behalf of the team of seven, said that four local securities companies, including state-owned Danareksa, PT Makindo, PT Bahana and PT Jardine Flemming Nusantara -- will act as coordinators for the sales of Telkom's shares on the domestic exchanges.

Delay

The announcement was actually scheduled for Monday but it was delayed due to what analysts called "intervention from outsiders". An influential party is suspected of having lobbied for the addition of a new name into the list of winning coordinators minutes before the scheduled announcement.

Martiono, however, denied the allegation, saying that the delay had nothing to do with any pressure from outsiders.

"It was simply because the appointment process had not been completed," he said, stressing that the appointment of the global coordinators for Telkom's public offering was selectively based upon their financial skills and capability.

Martiono said that at least 25 major investment banks wanted to act as the underwriters or the coordinators for Telkom's overseas public offering but only 16 of them were invited to take part in the bidding.

"Unlike those of Indosat, the sales of Telkom's shares at home and overseas are jointly handled by the appointed investment banks and securities companies," he said. The joint underwriting, will ensure the success of the planned public offering, he added, which will be much higher than that made by Indosat late last year.

Martiono, however, refused to disclose the amount of shares to be released nor the level of their offering prices. However, he hinted that Telkom's public offering would be similar to that of Indosat, which was comprised not only of the issuance of new shares but also the divestment of the government's stake.

Indosat, the provider of international telecommunication services, made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in October last year. Merrill Lynch was the global coordinator for its overseas listing while Danareksa acted as the coordinator for the sales of its shares on the domestic exchanges.

Indosat raised US$799 million from the sales of 25 percent of its 1.03 billion ordinary shares through the NYSE and around Rp 650 billion ($297 million) from the sales of another 10 percent on the local market.

The shares sold through the NYSE were mainly government shares, while those sold at home mostly consisted of new shares.

Martiono said that the funds to be raised from the divestment of the government's equity in Telkom will also be used to prepay high-interest foreign debts.

Telkom, which employs around 43,000 workers, booked total assets of around Rp 7 trillion (US$3.15 billion) as of last December and a net profit of around Rp 418 billion last year.

Martiono said that the average income growth of the company reached around 20 percent in the last five years.(hen)