Telkom to issue bonus shares for investors

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) will soon distribute about three million shares to Indonesian individual and cooperative shareholders as a bonus if they hold its shares for a year.

The company announced yesterday the bonus shares would be distributed from the government's holding in the telecommunications company, which floated its shares on local and overseas markets in November last year.

T. Hedi Safina, a Telkom executive, said the bonus shares would be distributed through assigned post offices.

"Telkom will cooperate with PT Pos Indonesia, the state-owned postal company, in distributing the bonus shares to ensure that the distribution of the bonus shares runs smoothly," he said.

Telkom, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange and the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges, offered discounts and incentive shares to local individual investors and cooperatives during its initial public offering (IPO) in October last year.

The individual investors who bought at least 500 shares during the IPO period should receive 50 bonus shares, and cooperatives which bought at least 5,000 shares should be given 500 bonus shares as a reward for not selling their Telkom shares within a year.

Hedi said the investors, who met the requirement, could collect their bonus shares at designated post offices.

"The investors must bring their ID cards and Telkom share ownership documents with them when collecting their bonus shares," he said.

Hedi said 0.04 percent of the government's 9.33 billion shares in the telecommunication company would be distributed for the bonus issue.

The government owns an 82.14 percent stake in the company.

The price of Telkom shares, around Rp 2,800 (US$1.18) during the IPO period, reached Rp 3,500 early this week. (17/hen)