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lag carrier Garuda Indonesia will conduct its initial public offering (IPO) in February instead of December as originally planned, as its auditors need more time to assess the airline’s finances, a minister says.

“The accountants need more time to audit Garuda’s financial statements,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said Wednesday, after a hearing with House of Representatives’ Commission VI overseeing trade, industry and investment.

Last month, Mustafa said the ministry was upbeat over Garuda’s IPO happening before the end of the year, despite a drop in its first half profits to Rp 175 billion from Rp 400 billion in the first half of 2009.

The decline was a result of increasing costs caused by “several adjustments”, he said.

Mustafa said Garuda would send the registry documents to the capital market regulators in December so they could begin the IPO in January and officially list Garuda shares the following month.

Garuda’s underwriters for the IPO include Bahana Securities, Danareksa Sekuritas and Mandiri Sekuritas. UBS and Citi group have also been appointed as international underwriters for the listing.

Mustafa previously said the government expected to raise between Rp 30 trillion and Rp 35 trillion between October and December from the privatization of giant state firms.

With the announcement of the Garuda delay, the government may collect no more than Rp 30 trillion, since Garuda shares were reportedly hoping to raise up to Rp 5 trillion. — JP