Securities firms to assess Pertamina, PGN merger plan
Friday, January 17 2014 - 02:39 AM WIB
The government has appointed state-owned securities companies PT Bahana Securities and PT Danareksa Securities to assess the propose merger between state-controlled gas distribution firm PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and PT Pertamina Gas (Pertagas), the gas distribution subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina.
"Bahana and Danareksa will weigh the various options for the planned merger and suggest an action plan," Minister of State Owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan told a press conference at his office on Thursday.
The merger may be conducted in one or two stages, he added. "If it is done in two stages, PGN will buy PT Pertagas in the first stage, and PGN will be bought by PT Pertamina in the second stage," he explained.
If the merger was conducted in one stage, Pertamina could directly buy PGN, he said.
The minister assured that if Pertamina bought the publicly-listed PGN, the state gas firm would not be dissolved. "PGN will continue to be the largest energy company in Indonesia," he added.
Dahlan could not reveal when exactly Bahana and Danareksa will complete their study of the planned acquisition. He, however, hoped the study to be completed quickly so as the proposed merger could be realized soon to help increase the supply of gas via pipeline particularly to households in the cities, in a bid to cut down dependency on the more expensive and inefficient LPG.
"We hope it will be done quickly. It is urgent because it is part of the governments efforts to move towards a modern Indonesia, wherein urban and rural households will no longer depend on LPG, as its distribution is not organized," he said.
On January 12, a number of national newspapers reported the summary of a meeting attended by Dahlan, and other ministry top officials, and Pertamina?s board of directors and commissioners.
According to the summary, the government has agreed to an option, which allows Pertamina to acquire PGN.
But, Dahlan denied the decision, saying the option was one of the three available ones.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak