RAJAWALI TO FOCUS ON THREE SECTORS AFTER LEAVING BENTOEL

Jakarta, June 18 (ANTARA) - Rajawali Group as an investment company will focus its business on three sectors, namely property, plantation and mining, an executive of the group said.

"Rajawali will focus on the three sectors after relinquishing all of its share ownership with publicly listed PT Bentoel International Investama," Darjoto Setyawan, managing director for business development of Rajawali Group, said here on Wednesday.

He said that it was a correct chance and time for Rajawali Group to sell its shares with Bentoel to British American Tobacco.

Setyawan said that Rajawali had been successful in carrying out financial restructuring and introduced a modern management to the biggest cigarette producer based in Malang, East Java, so that the company had succeeded in becoming the biggest cigarette producer in Indonesia.

In 2008, Bentoel produced 17,7 billion pieces of cigarettes which constituted the highest record it has made over the past 78 years, he said.

In the meantime, British American Tobacco Plc (BAT) has bought a 85-percent stake in PT Bentoel Internasional Investama from PT Rajawali Corpora for US$494 million, a spokesman said.

The director of BAT Asia-Pacific, John Daly, said here on Wednesday the price was equal to Rp873 per share with a premium of 20 percent above the closing price of Rp730 per share on June 15, 2009.

"The tender offer for the remaining shares held by the public will be announced soon and hopefully could be settled by the end of August 2009," he said.

Based on assumptions that all the shares would be bought through the bidding process the transaction covering 100 percent shares of Bentoel could reach a total of US$580 million, he said.

"The transaction is a perfect strategic opportunity for entering the clove-cigarette market in Indonesia which is vast and still developing, which can be used as a foundation for further growth in the future," he said.