TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla has called on State-Owned Enterprises to conduct initial public offerings (IPO) in a bid to improve capital management and promote transparent financial statements.
“By conducting IPOs, they can be more transparent, and public can evaluate what’s happening in the companies,” Kalla said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in Jakarta on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.
Jusuf Kalla opened the first trading session at the IDX on the first business day of 2017. During the occasion, he spoke in a Q&A session hosted by Financial Services Authority chairman Muliaman D. Hadad.
Indonesian Issuers Association (AEI) chairman Franky Welirang asked Jusuf Kalla about the possibility of SOEs subsidiaries to offer their stocks to public trough IPOs, since in 2016, the IPO realization at the IDX was below the target.
According to Kalla, the IPO realization will depend on the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry to determine companies that will conduct IPOs. Currently, only 20 out of 150 SOEs and subsidiaries are registered at the IDX.
The vice president expressed his support for PT Freeport Indonesia to conduct an IPO since Freeport have only registered its shares overseas.
Kalla pledged that he would call on the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister to pay more attention to the matter based on related regulations.
“For an SOE, conducting an IPO is not like any IPO conducted by private companies. Therefore, it will need approval from the House of Representatives. In the future, SOEs and their subsidiaries will be encouraged to conduct IPOs to make the process easier,” he said.
DESTRIANITA | ANDI IBNU
