JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Shares of PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT) gained 2.3% to Rp3795 at 2.55 pm Jakarta time on hope the government of Indonesia would buy back Indosat.
Presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said, if he won the president election, his upcoming government would consider the possibility to buy back Indosat after Indonesia’s economic growth has reached beyond 7 percent.
Indonesia, under Megawati administration, had in 2002 sold 40,98% shares of Indosat to Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) at price of Rp5.62 trillion.
STT then sold Indosat to Qatar Telecom QSC, now Ooredoo Asia Pte Ltd (Qatar Telecom). Currently OOredoo controls 65% Indosat shares while government of Indonesia holds 14.29%. The rest is owned by public investors.
Indosat suffered loss of Rp2.7 trillion last year and has total debts of Rp23.93 trillion.