TV media firms allowed to go public

TV media firms allowed to go public

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Information has given approval
to three television and multimedia companies to sell their shares
to the public, a company executive said yesterday.

Television broadcasting firms PT Rajawali Citra Televisi
Indonesia (RCTI) and PT Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV), and
multimedia company PT Datakom Asia have been given the green
light by information minister R. Hartono, Keith Loveard,
Datakom's manager of public affairs, said in a media statement.

The approval to sell shares to the public, however, does not
mean that the three companies would immediately make public
offering, he explained, adding that it was only an initial step
to anticipate a future need of public money.

The public offering would also have to adhere to the 1997
broadcasting law and capital market regulation, he said, quoting
the permission letter signed by Hartono.

The outgoing information minister has been rumored to become
the next minister of internal affairs.

Loveard added that the three companies would also have to get
permission from the Capital Market Supervisory Agency.

RCTI, the country's most profitable broadcaster, is a cash-cow
of the publicly listed PT Bimantara Citra, a well-diversified
conglomerate controlled by Bambang Trihatmodjo, one of President
Soeharto's sons.

RCTI was rumored to launch an initial public offering last
year, but analysts said that the plan was hampered by the
government's policy to close the country's media operation to
foreign ownership.

SCTV is 47.5 percent owned by Datakom, a fast-growing
multimedia operation, which, in August, floated US$250 million in
eight-year bonds in the U.S. with a fixed coupon rate of 12.75
percent.

Some $40 million of the offering was reportedly subscribed by
U.S. billionaire and hedge fund manager George Soros, who has
been accused by many as stimulating the current economic crisis
in Southeast Asia, which started in July. (08)