PRESS RELEASE: Standard & Poor?s assign CGS-6+ to Antam

HONG KONG (Standard & Poor's) April 11, 2005--Standard & Poor's Governance Services said today it has assigned a corporate governance score (CGS) of 'CGS-6+' to PT Antam Tbk. (ANTAM), one of Indonesia's largest mining and mineral-processing companies.

"ANTAM has demonstrated moderate standards of corporate governance on an international comparison basis," said Standard & Poor's governance analyst Calvin Wong. "It has taken a leadership role in corporate governance within Indonesia's natural resources sector," Mr. Wong added.

The overall CGS is a result of four component scores with a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high):

-- Ownership structure and external influence: 6+

-- Shareholder rights and relations: 6+

-- Transparency, disclosure, and audit: 7

-- Board structure and effectiveness: 6+

"While ANTAM has taken considerable steps in corporate governance to comply with international standards, there are several potential challenges to good corporate governance that are partly related to the government's majority ownership stake of 65%, held by the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Manggi Habir.

The main positive aspects of ANTAM's governance profile include the following:

-- It has a simple and transparent ownership structure.

-- Notwithstanding the government's controlling ownership stake and golden share, it generally lets the board of commissioners and board of directors run the company, and its interests appear to be aligned with those of other shareholders.

-- Processes and procedures that facilitate shareholder participation in shareholder meetings are in place.

-- There is timely and good quality disclosure of both financial and nonfinancial information.

The following are some of the concerns that constrain the overall score:

-- The government's influence over the company warrants close monitoring because of the potential for its commercial interests to conflict with its public policy, political, or national interests in a way that is detrimental to minority shareholders.

-- From a structural standpoint, the boards lack a strong independent base. Only two of the five commissioners meet local or global standards for independence.

-- Although the Audit Committee demonstrates strong oversight over internal controls, we note some concerns over staff turnover, resourcing, and the level of finance and accounting experience within the internal audit function.

The Corporate Governance Score report on PT Antam can be found on RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. A full analysis of ANTAM's corporate governance score, dated April 2005, will soon be available on Standard & Poor's Web site at www.governance.standardandpoors.com. Alternatively, call Standard & Poor's Governance Services at (852) 2533-3509.

Information on ratings and Corporate Governance scores is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect at www.ratingsdirect.com. It can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find Ratings, then Credit Ratings Search. Corporate governance reports are available at www.governance.standardandpoors.com.

A Corporate Governance Score ('CGS') reflects Standard & Poor's assessment of a company's corporate governance practices and policies and the extent to which these serve the interests of the company's financial stakeholders, with an emphasis on shareholders' interests. These governance practices and policies are measured against Standard & Poor's corporate governance scoring methodology, which is based on a synthesis of international codes, governance best practices and guidelines of good governance practice. The scoring scale operates on a numerical basis with a total of 19 calibrations: starting with CGS-10 the highest score, the scores follow with CGS-9+, CGS-9, CGS-8+, CGS-8, CGS-7+, etc.

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