Timor denies rumors of acquisition by Astra
JAKARTA (JP): The producer of the internationally debated national car, PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN), denied yesterday it would be taken over by automobile giant PT Astra International.
The company also denied rumors that its former president, Hutomo Mandala Putra, widely known as Tommy, had to leave the company because of pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Soemitro Soerachmad, the president of TPN's subsidiary PT Timor Distributor Nasional, said yesterday that Tommy, President Soeharto's youngest son, still owned 99 percent of shares in the company, while his Putra Bangsa foundation owned the remaining 1 percent.
Soemitro confirmed, however, that the company had restructured its management team, making Tommy the chief commissioner of both TPN and its subsidiary PT Timor Rekayasa Rancang Bangun, to prepare for the company's plan to go public some time in 1999.
"The restructuring was planned long ago and has nothing to do with the presence of the IMF," he said.
He said the government required companies to establish a board of commissioners before they could go public.
The company planned to offer its shares to the public at the end of next year, or mid-1999 at the latest, he said.
The management shakeup included the appointment of former deputy chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, Wardijasa, as TNP's president, replacing Tommy.
The company also appointed Richard Ganda and S. Bismarck, both former executives of Astra, respectively as commissioner and director of its subsidiary PT Timor Industri Komponen.
Commitment
"But their (Ganda and Bismarck) entrance into management will not change our commitment with South Korea's Kia Motors," he said.
Soemitro said the company would also speed up its program to achieve 60 percent local content for its Timor cars from the initial target date of 1999 to 1998.
He said Timor cars now had 20 percent locally made components.
Soemitro said the new reform package endorsed by the IMF had not changed the amount of syndicated loans worth US$690 million it was going to receive from local banks to build a manufacturing facility in Karawang, West Java.
The government ordered a consortium of 13 state and private banks, led by state-owned Bank Dagang Negara, to give the loans to Timor Putra.
"We'll still receive the full amount of the loans according to the original commitment to finance our ongoing plant project," Soemitro said.
However, only $100 million of the loans had been used, he said.
Soemitro said the sluggish car market caused by the currency crisis had lowered Timor sales by about 45 percent this year.
The company's sales have been declining in the past three months from 2,301 cars in August to 1,350 last month. (das)