PGN moving to buy back shares

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 10/11/2008 11:27 AM | Business

Publicly listed state gas distributor PT PGN is forming a team to study the buy back plan, following the government's suggestion to help stimulate trading on the stock market hit hard by the global financial turmoil.

PGN corporate secretary Hery Yusup said Friday the team would work under the supervision of a hired consultant.

"The result of the study will come up next week," he said, adding that should the buy back plan be considered feasible it would be carried out in the next two weeks.

PGN is among the state companies the government has encouraged to buy back shares to take advantage of the low stock prices amid the market meltdown. This is also intended to help improve the slumping market index by restoring investor confidence.

So far, PGN is 51 percent owned by the government, while the public holds the remaining 49 percent.

Meanwhile, State Minister for State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil said Friday that he would allow state mining company PT Aneka Tambang and state coal producer PT Bukit Asam to buy the sharply declining shares of PT Bumi Resources, the country's largest coal producer.

He said this would be the best time to buy Bumi shares, whose value has dropped by more than 50 percent so far this year.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange canceled Friday plans to resume trading, which has been suspended since Wednesday, following a 21 percent decline in the main index from Monday to Wednesday prior to the suspension.

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