Two more firms plan public offerings

JAKARTA (JP): Unibank, a consumer-based commercial bank, and Indoprima Gemilang, a producer of automotive components, announced yesterday their plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares.

Unibank will sell 38 million new shares, accounting for around 43 percent of its enlarged shares, to the public, while Indoprima, which is based in Surabaya of East Java, will offer around 24 million shares, representing 33 percent of its expanded capital.

Bonar Sutanto, the president of Unibank, said the shares would be offered to the public next month and would be listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges in early February.

Unibank, which is at present controlled by the Raja Garuda Mas Group, expects to raise around Rp 65 billion ($29.7 million) from the initial public offering, he said. He, however, declined to explain about the indicative price of the shares.

Bonar said that around 70 percent of the IPO proceeds would be used to strengthen the bank's capital base, 15 percent to expand branch networks and the remaining 15 percent for human resources development.

Unibank, which recorded total assets of around Rp 734 billion (US$340 million) as of June, expects pretax earnings of around Rp 15.2 billion this year and around Rp 25.5 billion next year.

Soewando Basuki, the president of Indoprima Gemilang, said his company's IPO would be launched next month to raise funds of between Rp 60 billion and Rp 65 billion to finance expansion projects.

"The public offering period will be in the second week of December, while the listing on Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges will be made in the first week of January," he said.

Indoprima, which produces automotive components ranging from brake lining, wire horns to disc pads in its plant in Surabaya, is a major supplier of car components in the country, he said.

"We are quite upbeat about our business prospects, with the growing demand for both passenger and commercial vehicles in the country," he said.

The company's sales increased to Rp 84.4 billion in 1993 from Rp 63.2 billion in 1992, with after tax profits rising to Rp 5.4 billion from Rp 1.9 billion.

The sales and after tax profits in the first semester of this year amounted to Rp 56.6 billion and Rp 4.6 billion, respectively.(hen)