Medco determined to remain publicly listed firm

Oil and gas firm PT Medco Energi International Tbk said on Monday it was determined to remain a publicly listed company although the public currently controls only 5.38 percent of its shares.

?We do not want to go private. We will remain an open enterprise, and will continue to maintain bourse standards and good corporate governance,? Medco?s finance director Sugiarto said.

Sugiarto said New Links Energy International presently controls 85.44 percent of its shares, and that other shareholders include Credit Suisse First Boston with only 1.19 percent.

Thailand?s PTT Exploration and Production Public Co Ltd in January bought 40 percent stake in Medco?s holding company New Links.

Meanwhile, US rating agency Standard & Poor?s early this month assigned its B-plus corporate credit rating to MEI.

The agency also assigned a B-plus to the proposed US$150-million senior unsecured notes issued by its 100-percent subsidiary MEI Euro Finance Ltd.

MEI currently averages around 95,000 barrels per day of crude output, based on Platts records.

The company?s proved oil reserves, totaling 178-million barrels of oil equivalent, are located primarily in South Sumatra. (*)