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Multipolar holds back IPO plans for Big TV, spends wisely
Publicly listed diversified holding company Multipolar is holding back its plan to offer shares of its subsidiary operating satellite television Big TV to the public amid unfavorable economic conditions in the country
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ublicly listed diversified holding company Multipolar is holding back its plan to offer shares of its subsidiary operating satellite television Big TV to the public amid unfavorable economic conditions in the country.
Multipolar director Harijono Suwarno said on Friday that plans to list the subsidiary on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) might not happen as scheduled as the market was not favorable.
'We will decelerate the process for the initial public offering [IPO] of Big TV, waiting for the market to recover,' he said after a public expose.
A number of analysts previously estimated that the stock market would remain volatile until the end of the first half of this year.
The country's economy has also faced a slowdown, with only 4.7 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of this year, far lower than the targeted 5.7 percent growth.
Multipolar announced in March that it would release a 15 percent stake in Indonesia Media Televisi, which operates Big TV, to the public in the first half this year.
In another development, Multipolar is still reviewing its divestment plan for Internet provider Link Net, which is operated by its subsidiary First Media.
The firm's vice president of finance and accounting, Djony Rosnipa, said that Link Net appealed to many potential investors as it grew well, but no agreement had been reached to date.
Tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the owner of media conglomerate MNC Group, previously hinted that he was interested in owning a stake in Link Net if the valuation was reasonable.
The acquisition, if materialized, will help MNC Group strengthen its pay TV business arm MNC Sky Vision.
Multipolar already got an approval from its shareholders meeting last year to divest up to 11 percent of its stake in Link Net, with 7.45 percent already being released.
Djony said that the divestment was basically aimed at raising funds to support the firm's expansion, but stated that there were also some other instruments ' including internal cash ' to support the expansion.
He said that his firm would remain prudent in allocating capital expenditure this year.
For this year alone, his firm would allocate between 6 and 10 percent of targeted revenues to finance its business expansion, with around 4 to 5 percent going to its retail business, he went on.
Djony told reporters that Multipolar aimed to see around 10 to 20 percent in revenue growth this year, compared to Rp 17.07 trillion (US$1.3 billion) last year.
Multipolar's retail business, which consists of fashion retailer Matahari Department Store and supermarket operator Matahari Putra Prima, accounts for around 80 to 90 percent of the firm's total revenues.
Matahari Putra Prima previously disclosed that it would spend Rp 680 billion to add 10 Hypermart outlets, six Foodmart outlets and 21 Boston outlets this year.
Multipolar's head of investor relations, Agus Arimunandar, added that his firm would also expand its data center, Cinemaxx's movie theaters and Internet broadband service provider Bolt.
The firm plans to add another 9,975 more Cinemaxx movie theaters in the next five years, making a total of 1,000 Cinemaxx theaters nationwide, Multipolar's Djony said.
Multipolar's shares, which are traded under the code MLPL at the bourse, slumped by 0.66 percent to Rp 750 apiece on Friday's close from Rp 755 per piece in the previous closing.
The firm saw Rp 254.49 billion in net losses in the January-March period this year, a stark contrast to Rp 10.58 billion in net profit in the same period last year. The losses were mainly due to foreign currency loss the and economic slowdown.
