New stock exchange kicks off first day of trading

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI), produced by the merger of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (BEJ) and the Surabaya Stock Exchange (BES), commenced its first day of trading Monday, although full integration will not take place until the end of the year.

"Our systems will be fully integrated over the Christmas holiday, when the stock market is closed," BEI president director Erry Firmansyah told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The BEI will be closed from Dec. 20 through Dec. 25 for Christmas.

Erry said the BES's Jakarta operations, located in Plaza Bapindo on Jl. Sudirman, would be moved to the BEI central office, which was formerly the BEJ's headquarters, in the Sudirman Central Business District in South Jakarta by the end of January.

The BEJ and BES were officially merged on Dec. 1, and jointly host trading in approximately Rp 2,400 trillion (US$256.41 billion) worth of stocks and bonds issued by 379 companies. Before the merger, 353 companies were listed on the BEJ and 26 on the BES.

Erry said the BEI would continue the suspensions of trading in the shares of 12 companies that had been imposed by the BES.

"There'll be a two-year transition period for those suspended shares," Erry said.

He also said that the BES office in Surabaya, East Java, would continue to operate, focusing on investors in the country's eastern provinces.

To monitor latest stock-market developments, one now needs to access the BEI's website, www.bei.co.id, as both the BEJ and BES websites, www.bej.co.id and www.bes.co.id, have already been shut down.

Erry said the merger would have a positive impact on the country's economy as it would allow investors to trade stocks and derivatives in a one-stop shop.

"Companies that used to list their shares on both the BEJ and BES will now only have to list them on the BEI, which will reduce their costs," he was quoted by Kontan as saying.

He said he expected the BEI to list share issues by 30 companies and bond issues by 54 companies in 2008, which would help it double its profit to Rp 200 billion, compared with this year.

Following the merger, the BEI now has 10 commissioners and seven directors, and 375 employees from the merged exchanges.

The Jakarta stock market was established in 1912 by the Netherlands Indies administration.

It was closed after its nationalization in 1956, but was reopened in 1977, and privatized in 1992 under the management of PT BEJ.

The BES was established in 1989 to support economic growth in the eastern part of the country.

Construction company PT Jaya Konstruksi Manggala Pratama Tbk today becomes the first new company to be officially listed on the BEI. The Ciputra Group subsidiary has sold 300 million shares at Rp 615 per share, representing 10.22 percent of its total issued shares.

As of the end of July, the company had made Rp 34.75 billion in profit on total revenue of Rp 727.59 billion. (adt)