Industrial gas producer PT Aneka Gas Industri (AGI), a subsidiary of the diversified Samator Group, expects to raise Rp 989 billion (US$75.1 million) from its initial public offering (IPO), which will be launched next month.

AGI, the largest industrial gas producer in the country with 44 plants, plans to sell 766.66 million shares, about 25 percent of the company’s enlarged shares. The new shares will be sold at a price range of between Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,290 each during the IPO scheduled for Sept. 19 to 22. The new shares will be sold to the public at a price-to-earning (PE) ratio of between 16.8 and 21 times.

AGI vice president director Rachmat Harsono said that the firm would use 40 percent of the funds from the IPO for expanding its business, primarily to meet its target of operating 200 filling stations across the country by 2020. Currently, it has 80 filling stations in 25 provinces throughout the country.

“After getting a strong grip in our domestic market, we would expand our market overseas, such as in Southeast Asia,” Rachmat told a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

Rachmat said that the country’s market for industrial gas increased rapidly in the past several years because of surging demand from not only from the transportation sector, but also from industries such as construction and agriculture.

He said that with the increase in the number of the filling stations to 200 by 2020, the company hoped its market share would increase to 40 percent, up from about 30 percent at present.

As the oldest gas firm in the country, AGI’s history dates back to the establishment of two Dutch gas companies NV WA Hoek Machine enZuurstof in Jakarta in 1916 and NV Javasche Koelzoor Fabriek in Surabaya in 1924. In 1958, the two firms were nationalized by then president Sukarno’s administration, becoming PN Zatas and PN Asam Arang.

In 1971, Zatas and Asam Arang were merged into PT Aneka Gas Industri and became a state-owned enterprise. After being sold to German firm Messer Griesheim GmbH in 1998, AGI was acquired by Samator Group in 2008.

AGI, which produces atmospheric gases, fuel gases and synthetic gases, was also planning to use another 40 percent of the IPO funds for debt payment and the remaining 20 percent to strengthen its working capital, Rachmat said.

Aneka Gas financial director Nini Liemijanto said that the firm was optimistic that it would post more than Rp 1.8 trillion in total sales this year. A half of the target was achieved in the first half of the year, Nini claimed.

The firm was planning to build at least nine new filling stations by the end of the year in a bid to reach the target, Nini added.

Securities firms DBS Vickers Securities Indonesia, Mandiri Sekuritas and RHB Securities acted as AGI’s IPO underwriters.

AGI will hold road shows in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to promote the shares to foreign investors. However, the company has yet to determine the amount of shares to be allocated to foreign buyers. (mos)

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