PTBA sells IPO shares in S. Sumatra

State-owned coalminer PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) on Friday held an initial public offering (IPO) meeting in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, to sell 346.5 million shares, local daily Sriwijaya Post reported.

Similar meetings were held in different parts of Indonesia on Friday, the second day of PTBA?s three-day IPO which will end on Monday.

PTBA is based in South Sumatra where it operates a huge coalmine.

The president director of underwriter PT Danareksa, Zas Urewan, said on the sidelines of the Palembang meeting that few people in the meeting had expressed interest to buy PTBA shares.

?Maybe the South Sumatra people are not yet familiar with share buying. We are not clear yet how many South Sumatrans will buy PTBA shares. I guess their number will be very small,? Zas said.

Zas said they would socialize to the South Sumatra people the benefits of investing in shares and its methods.

The IPO price for the shares are Rp575 (US$=Rp8,800) each, while the shares have nominal value of Rp500 each.

The 3446.5 million shares include 315 million of the government?s shares in the company and 31.5 million new shares.

PTBA produced 10.2 million tons of coal in 2001. Its total production was targeted at 9.8 million in 2002. (*)