Pertamina rejects Bob Hasan's selling price for Tugu Pratama
Thursday, June 8 2000 - 03:15 AM WIB
The state oil and gas company Pertamina had rejected the selling price proposed by tycoon Mohammad Bob Hasan for his 35 percent stake in oil and gas insurance firm PT Tugu Pratama.
Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim was quoted by the Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying that Bob once asked the company to pay Rp 1 trillion for the 35 percent shares.
But Baihaki said that Pertamina wanted the shares for free because all of Tugu Pratama's business basically came from Pertamina, and Bob had reaped a lot of benefits from Tugu during the past several years without having to invest much.
Bob is the golfing partner of former authoritarian president Soeharto. He owned Tugu Pratama through his investment firm PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti. Pertamina owns 45 percent of Tugu, and another 20 percent is owned by Pertamina's pension foundation.
Pertamina is planning to acquire the 35 percent stake owned by Nusantara Ampera Bakti.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives commission VIII, Baihaki said that Pertamina was ready to negotiate with Bob over the 35 percent stake.
Baihaki said that there had been a difficulty to negotiate with Bob because he's been under the house arrest of the Attorney General office over alleged corruption.
He said that he had asked the permission of the Attorney General to meet with Bob. (*)