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Monday, May 21, 2007

Businessman Djodi ready to buy back Telkomsel shares

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian businessman Setiawan Djodi has prepared US$1.6 billion to buy back Telkomsel shares in Singapore`s telecommunications company SingTel.

"The money came from overseas investment banking companies such as those in Japan and the Middle East. They are ready to cooperate with Setdco (Djodi`s firm) in preparing the money," he said here on Sunday.

Djodi said Setdco did not intend to file a lawsuit but to buy back Telkomsel shares to which Setdco was actually entitled. "We wish to settle the matter on business-to-business basis," he said.

He said the US$1.6 billion would be used to buy 35 percent of Telkomsel`s stake in SingTel. "However we only wish to buy 22.3 percent of the stake, to which Setdco is entitled. If they wish to sell the rest (12.7 percent) we are also ready to buy them," he said.

He admitted he had sent a letter to the Singapore government stating its wish to buy back Telkomsel shares in SingTel. He said he had not yet received a reply from them.

Asked on the possibility that the Singapore government might not be willing to sell them, Djodi said the Singapore government had to consider the wider interest in its cooperation with Indonesia that would not only cover business matters.

"As a Javanese, I will put myself in an inferior position, and if they still reject I will move away and if they continue to reject, well, that will be all," he said.

About any legal action he might take against SingTel, Djodi said he just may do so, but did not elaborate.

Djodi said that initially Setdco had a five percent stake in Telkomsel and 17.3 percent in a Dutch firm (KPN). After KPN went bankrupt its shares were sold along with Setdco`s totalling 22.3 percent.

He said Setdco as part of Telkomsel shareholders that is the first to have the right to refuse, had declared its willingness to buy back the KPN shares.

"At that time we offered US$650 million, higher than SingTel`s bid of only US$601 million," he said.

However in practice, it was SingTel that won the bid for the Telkomsel shares. "This is strange and controversial because our bid was higher, and we are the first to have a right to refuse," he said.

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