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e Garuda.
Before any of these transactions reach the market, state-owned cement holding company Semen Gresik will launch a Rp1.6tr ($722m) rights issue that is an important part of the government's plans to make it the holding company of the state's cement interests.
Two of its cement plants, Semen Tonasa and Semen Padang, will be sold to Semen Gresik via a backdoor listing and the government's 73% stake will also be sold down. The rights offering is expected to have an international tranche of $200m-$300m.
It was not Indosat or privatisation that awakened the Indonesian appetite for offshore listing, but rather the July 1994 Tri Polyta IPO, which made it the first Indonesian company to list on an overseas exchange.
The deal, which was led by Merrill Lynch, raised $157m in an IPO of shares offered on Nasdaq. Securing a US SEC registration and the Nasdaq listing enabled Tri Polyta to attract investors that would not have been eligible to invest in a Rule 144A issue for a Jakarta-listed company.
Despite paving the way for the later--and much larger--Indosat listing, the precedent set by the Tri Polyta flotation was not applauded in all quarters.
Some Indonesian authorities interpreted the move as a way to dodge either the 49% restriction on foreign ownership of listed Indonesian companies, or the direct investment laws governing foreign participation.
Similar concerns applied to the APP and APRIL listings in New York. In late February Bacelius Ruru, chairman of Bapepam (the Capital Markets Supervisory Agency) told Euroweek that he had written to the two companies requesting explanations of their decisions to list only on a foreign exchange.
He believes that, since the holding companies have subsidiaries listed on the JSE, they fall under Bapepam's jurisdiction.
Ruru agrees that the "Indosat listing in New York enhanced the image of the republic, and it showed that there are good companies in Indonesia."
But he refutes the suggestion that Indonesian corporates cannot raise sufficient funds simply by listing on the Jakarta bourse.
It is a view with which many brokers agree--especially those that have attached Rule 144A tranches to domestic IPOs in the past to enable US placement of shares.
One broker adds that, since most Indonesian companies are unlikely to appeal to US retail investors through an NYSE listing, it would be easier to access international institutional investors through the normal channels.
In the better market climate of 1993 and early 1994 several Indonesian companies were able to attract foreign investors through domestic IPOs, many of which were run by international securities firms.
Another sums up the feeling of many non-US houses: "The obvious reason to pitch a New York listing is that none of the US banks have domestic underwriting licenses in Indonesia."
Others argue that, while a listing on a major international exchange may boost the profile and liquidity of a major privatisation stock, it is inappropriate for an existing private sector corporate.
"On the privatisation side, the Indonesian capital markets are not large enough to provide the funds necessary for these flotations," comments David Oxtoby, president-director of Asia Equity Jasereh.
"For companies like Indosat and Telkom this is probably the case. But with some of the companies in the private sector seeking listings, the reality is they could raise the funds at home--and foreigners would find their way