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To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (1483)	6/25/2001 3:03:51 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2248

Telkomsel to Sell Shares Only After 2002 on Political Concerns By Linus Chua and Leslie Tan Singapore, June 25 (Bloomberg) -- PT Telekomunikasi Selular said it will sell shares only after 2002 on concern Indonesia's four-year long economic and political instability will hurt fundraising efforts now, Operations Director Laurens Bulters said. The country's biggest cellular phone company was planning to sell some of its shares next year, Indonesia's Kompas daily reported in February, citing President Mulia Tambunan. Telkomsel planned to invest about 5 trillion rupiah ($440 million) to build 500 new base stations for cell-phone coverage in the country. While the delay means less capital for expansion, analysts say Telkomsel has enough money to boost its 46 percent share of the Indonesian cell phone market. The company's parent PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the country's biggest phone company, would also get a better return by waiting a couple more years. ``It's not easy to raise funds in Indonesia now and it's easier to sell to a strategic investor first and look for an IPO at a later stage,'' said Tjandra Kartika, an analyst at G.K. Goh Research Pte. in Singapore. ``They have no need for funds and it's a matter of crystallizing the investment value until the initial public offering.'' More Customers Telkomsel has 2 million customers and expects the number of users to rise to more than 2.7 million this year. The company is projecting the figure could rise to about 7 million in the next three years. Telkomsel may sell shares in both Indonesia and Singapore, Bulters said in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``To go for a successful listing, you'd have to be in a stable environment -- in Indonesia, the situation is not as stable as it should be, to put it mildly,'' Bulters said. ``Investors may be more interested to invest in the country only in 2003.'' The Indonesian rupiah has lost about a quarter of its value in the past year to become the worst-performing Asian currency. The country has been wracked by political unrests as President Abdurrahman Wahid faces an impeachment hearing in August and could be ousted. Economic growth this year may slow to as little as 2 percent from 3.5 percent in 2000, analysts estimate. The delay in the share sale means Royal KPN NV, the biggest Dutch phone company, will have to find a buyer for its 17 percent stake in Telkomsel instead of cashing out in the share sale. KPN, whose debt quadrupled to $20 billion last year as the company spent on acquisitions and mobile phone licenses, had said it wants to sell its holdings in Telkomsel. ``Discussions are going on and if KPN finds a partner who's paying enough, the deal will be done,'' Bulters said. ``It's possible the divestment will take place this year.'' He declined to say who KPN is talking to. One potential buyer may be Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia's biggest phone company, which said in February that it's stepping up investments in the region as more assets such as those owned by KPN and others are being sold at attractive prices. Yet another probable buyer may be Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., which set up a joint venture with Australia's Telstra Corp. to build a regional mobile phone network. quote.bloomberg.com