Government opposes Antam?s buyback plan

The office of the state minister for state-owned enterprises has opposed the plan of the state owned general mining company PT Aneka Tambang (PT Antam) to buy back part of its shares traded in the local stock market, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

"It is not needed for Antam to buy back its shares from the exchange," Roes Aryawijaya, the deputy of the state minister for state owned enterprises, said. According to him, prices of mineral products produced by Antam is not as fluctuating as oil so that their fluctuation will not really affect the price of its shares.

Antam said last week that it was waiting for the government?s approval to buy back between five and ten percent of its shares from the capital market in a bid to prop up prices. The company?s president Dedi Aditya Sumanegara said Antam would finance the buyback program which would be carried out gradually with its own fund.

Antam?s proposal to buy back its shares was not the first time. The company planned to buy back part of its shares some time ago but it was opposed by the government which at the time asked the management to focus on the financing of the company?s third ferro nickel processing plant in Sulawesi. (*)