"The IPO of state-owned companies is expected to become a way of collecting investment funds for infrastructure development."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan has said five state-owned companies would conduct an initial public offering of stocks this year.
"One of the companies is cement producer PT Semen Baturaja," he said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange here on Wednesday.
Four other companies that are to go public are subsidiaries of state-owned companies.
"I could not as yet announce their names, but I could say with certainty they would conduct an IPO this year," he said.
He further said the decision to list the companies was made so that the parent companies would not have to tightly control them.
He added that through an IPO there would be other institutions that would control them, besides the parent companies.
"Control of them would be more open, so the parent companies need not control them as much since there will be other parties that would also manage them," he said.
The president director of the Indonesia Stock Exchange, Ito Warsito, had recently expressed hope that the government would encourage state-owned companies to list their shares at the stock exchange to draw foreign funds to the country.
"The IPO of state-owned companies is expected to become a way of collecting investment funds for infrastructure development," he said.
Research analyst of PT Panin Sekuritas Tbk., Purwoko Sartono, said investors generally prefer and target IPO shares of state-owned companies, as well as "shares of large state-owned companies."
(T.KR0-IAZ/H-YH/KR-BSR/INE/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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