=DJ UPDATE: Qatar Telecom Chairman: To Make Indosat Tender Offer
(Adds further comment from Qatar Telecom, statement from Indonesian minister, KPPU chairman) JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Qatar Telecom (QTEL.DO) will make a general tender offer for PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (ISAT.JK) shares, its chairman said Monday. The Qatari company signed an agreement last week to buy a 40.8% stake in Indosat from Asia Mobile Holdings Pte. Ltd. for $1.8 billion. "I think we will (make) it," Qatar Telecom Chairman Sheik Abdulla MS Al-Thani told reporters in Jakarta when asked about the tender offer. He added that it was premature to comment in detail on the tender offer, which will be triggered by Indonesian takeover rules. "This is not a completed process. Until further steps we will not mention any specific (detail). But we are actively engaged with regulators," said Qatar Telecom Chief Executive Nasser Marafih. Based on Indonesian law, any company that buys more than a 25% stake in another company must make a tender offer. Asia Mobile Holdings is unit held by the Qatari mobile operator and Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Singapore's state-investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. ST Telemedia owns 75% of Asia Mobile and Qatar Telecom owns 25%. The deal for Qatar Telecom to buy the Indosat stake was reached Friday and payment will be made in cash, ST Telemedia and Qatar Telecom said. Analysts said the deal values Indosat shares at IDR7,388 each, a premium of 31% when compared with Indosat's closing price of IDR5,650 Friday. Indosat shares were suspended from trading Monday, pending delivery of official documents to the Indonesia Stock Exchange. ST Telemedia's decision to sell its stake in Indosat follows a legal dispute that began last November, when Indonesia's antitrust regulator, KPPU, said Temasek violated antimonopoly laws by holding indirect stakes in both Indosat and mobile phone carrier PT Telkomsel. "I know the case is right now in the Supreme Court. We will wait and see what the Supreme Court ruling is. Of course, we will obey (the ruling)," Al-Thani said. He said that his company will bear any legal responsibility that could be raised after the Supreme Court issues its verdict. Temasek owns 56% of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (Z74.SG), which has a 35% stake in Telkomsel, Indonesia's largest cellular operator. Temasek also owns ST Telemedia, which in turn holds a majority stake in Asia Mobile. In May, an Indonesian district court upheld an earlier ruling that ST Telemedia and SingTel were guilty of using their dominant position to charge excessive prices for mobile phone calls. The court ordered either ST Telemedia or SingTel to divest their stakes within a year. Both companies last month appealed that ruling with the Supreme Court, which has yet to make a decision. Meanwhile, Sofyan Djalil, Indonesia's minister for state-owned affairs, said that the government welcomes Qatar Telecom's entry in Indosat. "We don't have any problem (with the stake sale) as long as Qatar Telecom doesn't break any laws," Djalil said. Djalil also said that the government doesn't have a plan to sell its 14.29% stake in Indosat, the nation's second largest cellular operator by subscribers. Separately, KPPU Chairman Muhammad Iqbal said the Indosat-Qatar Telecom deal "ignored KPPU's ruling and disregarded Indonesian laws in general." "KPPU's view is the deal wasn't in line with our rulings, which demanded that the stake sale not involve an affiliated company," said Iqbal. He added that stake sale disregarded Indonesian laws as it was executed when the Supreme Court was still deciding on the antimonopoly case.
