Tin firm to be listed on London stock market

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad announced yesterday that PT Tambang Timah will be the second state-owned firm to be listed on overseas stock exchanges this year, after PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (PT Telkom).

The minister said that Tambang Timah, a tin mining company, will be cross-listed on the Jakarta and London stock exchanges, while Telkom will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange in addition to those two bourses.

He was reluctant to divulge details of the planned overseas listing of the two companies.

"The public offering scheme of the two companies will be similar to that made by state-owned PT Indosat," he said following a meeting with President Soeharto.

Mar'ie reported to the President about his recent trip to Britain and the United States to promote the public offering of the two companies in the world's capital market centers of London, Boston and New York.

Indosat, the provider of international telecommunication services, raised US$799 million with the sale of 25 percent of its 1.03 billion ordinary shares through the New York Stock Exchange last October and around Rp 650 billion ($297 million) from the sale of another 10 percent through the local market.

The shares sold in New York were mainly government shares, while those sold at home were mostly new shares.

Proceeds from the sales of the new shares were used to strengthen Indosat's telecommunications business, while those raised from the government's divestment were used to pay ahead on high-interest loans, carrying interest rates of above 10 percent per annum.

Mar'ie said recently that the government's share divestment in other state-owned companies, such as Telkom and Tambang Timah, would be used to reduce the amount of high-interest debts as well.

The government recently appointed three U.S. investment banks, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Lehman and S.G. Warburg of Britain, as global coordinators for the sales of Telkom's shares overseas.

The global coordinators for state-owned Tambang Timah's overseas stock offering have yet to be appointed.

Telkom, the provider of domestic telecommunications services, employs around 43,000 workers. It registered total assets of about Rp 7 trillion (US$3.15 billion) as of last December and a net profit of Rp 418 billion in 1994.

The business performance of Tambang Timah, the only state- owned tin mining company, has significantly improved in the last three years following a massive restructuring program.

The company's net profit, which sharply dropped to Rp 20 billion in 1993 from Rp 34 billion in 1992 on the impact of the falling prices, steadily improved in the following years.

Minister of Mines I.B. Sudjana said recently that the net profit of the company, which exported most of its tin products, was estimated to reach Rp 112.1 billion in the 1994-1995 fiscal year ended in March from Rp 20.6 billion in the previous fiscal year. (hen)