"We will try to get eight state firms listed on the stock exchange this year," he said here on Tuesday.
Three of them had been put on the list of state firms to be privatized this year. They were cement maker PT Semen Baturaja, construction company PT Waskita Karya, and state pawnshop PT Pegadaian, he said.
"The Privatization Committee has proposed the three companies to the finance minister," he said.
Besides the three companies, at least five more state firms were also ready to go public, he said.
"Some of the five companies are subsidiaries of state-owned enterprise," he said.
An earlier report had it that three subsidiaries of state-owned companies were ready to float their shares to the public. They are PT Krakatau Wajatama, a subsidiary of state steel maker PT Krakatau Steel, PT Pertamina Hulu Energi, a subsidiary of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina, and PT Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of state electricity firm PT PLN).
To date, the country has a total of 141 state firms, 18 of which have listed their shares at the capital market.
Dahlan said the government was encouraging state firms to conduct an initial public offering of their shares to improve their performance.
"IPO has proven capable of improving companies` performance. The more state firms becoming publicly-listed companies the better will be," he said.(*)
R017/S012/H-NG/H-YH
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
