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)