Plantation firm to conduct IPO in October

PT BW Plantation plans to issue Rp1 trillion ($101.11 million) in shares in October in an initial public offering (IPO) to finance an expansion, a company official said on Friday, The Jakarta Globe reported.

The company plans to offer up to 30% of its shares to the public. If successful, its IPO would be the largest this year to date, with Bank BTN’s Rp1.5 trillion IPO scheduled for December.

“We’re confident that demand (for IPOs) has returned, while CPO prices are better so far this year,” BW Plantation corporate secretary Kelik Irwantono said.

The road show was set for September. The company and its underwriters — PT Danareksa Sekuritas and PT BNP Paribas Securities Indonesia — will promote the IPO to institutional investors in major financial centers such as Hong Kong and London.

The company owns 95,000 hectares of land in South Sumatra and Kalimantan. About half has been planted. “With the proceeds from the IPO, we want to increase the planted area by 30,000 hectares in the next three years,” Irwantono said.

Last year, BW Plantation produced 67,000 metric tons of crude palm oil, while it projects an expansion to 100,000 tons this year. The company booked Rp514 billion of revenue and Rp120 billion in net profit in 2008.

Anis Baridwan, head of surveillance of real sector firms at the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency, said BW Plantation’s IPO plan was submitted this week,