Panigoro family?s Encore gains full control of New Links
Friday, February 18 2005 - 10:25 AM WIB
PTTEP, Cumin (CSFB), and Encore respectively own 40 percent, 19.9 percent and 40.1 percent shareholding in New Links, a Mauritius based company, who held 85.51 percent shares in publicly listed oil and gas firm PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk.
Virgin Island-based Encore is a paper company owned by the Panigoro family, MedcoEnergi?s founder shareholder.
PTTEP said it had received a total cash of US$ 236.5 million from its divestment of New Links.
PTTEP also said the current share sale is driven by the change of its investment strategy.
?We are now focusing on direct investment in E&P at the asset level instead of through holding companies,? PTTEP president Maroot Mrigadat said in a statement to Stock Exchange of Thailand.
The statement said that MedcoEnergi had gradually become an integrated energy company by expanding its investment into related energy business such as power generation.
PTTEP will use the proceeds from the sales to re-invest in the E&P opportunities domestically as well as internationally, including Indonesia, Middle East and Africa to fuel its future growth, the statement added.
PTTEP became a 34.18 percent shareholder of MedcoEnergi through its acquisition of New Links shares in December 2001. An additional 0.02 percent interest was acquired in April of the following year by tender offer. The total acquisition costs were US$ 226.37 million.
Throughout its 3-year participation in MedcoEnergi, PTTEP has received a total of US$ 33 million in dividends.(Robert)