T

axi and car rental company PT Cipaganti Citra Graha, through its subsidiary, has secured agreements to acquire stakes in two companies that own a total of 275 taxis.

Through a file submitted to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Cipaganti announced on Friday that its 99 percent-owned subsidiary, PT Grand Transportasi Sejahtera, had signed agreements on Sept. 18 to buy a 99.99 percent stake in PT Pandu Persada Saranamukti and PT Andika Semesta from their previous owners.

Pandu Persada'€™s previous owners were Andianto Setiabudi '€” now Cipaganti'€™s president director '€” and Yulinda Tjendrawati Setiawan. Meanwhile, Andika was previously owned by PT Cahaya Prima Perkasa, Yulinda Tjendrawati Setiawan and Julia Sri Redjeki Setiabudi.

The value of the transactions were expected to be determined in one or two weeks, Cipaganti corporate secretary Toto Moeljono said.

'€œWe will use funds raised from the recent initial public offering [IPO] to support the acquisitions,'€ he said.

Cipaganti kicked off its IPO in late June and started floating on the exchange on July 9.

The company offloaded new shares equal to 10 percent of its enlarged capital and raised Rp 68 billion from the offering.

The company previously planned to offload more shares in the IPO, but Cipaganti obtained fewer shares due to the bear market.

As part of its expansion, Cipaganti has said it is planning to have 350 new units by year'€™s end, partly to be financed by funds raised from the IPO and loans of Rp 250 billion recently obtained from Bank CIMB Niaga.

Toto said the acquisitions of Pandu Persada and Andika were part of the expansion plan.

According to Toto, Pandu has 125 units that used to be run in Semarang, Central Java, while Andika still has 150 units operating in Jakarta.

'€œFrom Pandu and Andika, we will have 275 [additional taxis]. Our subsidiary Grand Transportasi Sejahtera will also expand with 100 new units. Therefore, we hope to see an addition of 375 units by the end of the year,'€ Toto said.

Currently, Cipaganti operates 100 taxis in Jakarta, 172 in Bandung, West Java, and 300 in Surabaya,
East Java.

The planned additional 375 units will make the company operate 947 units by year'€™s end, Toto said.

Cipaganti will likely maintain Pandu Persada and Andika'€™s own brand '€” Pandu Taxi and Taxi Andika '€” after the acquisitions as they use the names in their operation license.

'€œWe will make some adjustments to show that Pandu and Andika are in our group, for example, by earmarking them with Cipaganti'€™s [identity] color '€” which is red '€” or with lettering,'€ Toto said.

Shares in Cipaganti, which are traded on the IDX under the code CPGT, were unchanged at Rp 270 apiece on Friday, compared to a day earlier. The company'€™s share price has jumped 42 percent from its IPO price in July of Rp 190 apiece.