RAISING CAPITAL – PT. KRAKATAU STEEL (PERSERO) ISSUES IN FUNDING THEIR CAPITAL EXPANSION REQUIREMENTS

The Krakatau Steel’s (Persero) management confronted a difficult task in obtaining new capital injection to increase the production target from its current capacity 2,5 MT to 5 MT by year 2013.

The options faced by management are whether KS issues new shares through Strategic Sale (SS) or Initial Public Offering (IPO) mechanism. In this case, both alternatives had their pros and cons. The strategic partner for Strategic Sale mechanism is offered aggressively by ArcelorMittal, foreign steel company, Luxemburg and Indian joint steel company.

The controversy strategic sale issue came to an end in 18 September 2008 when the Indonesia’s Legislator Body or DPR ruled out any strategic sale of KS ownership to foreign parties and that KS’s equity requirements for the planned expansion and enhancement of their facilities would be conducted through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process.

The IPO of KS confronts a reality of market crash near the end of 2008. While time was an essence as the development project was expected to take 2-3 years, optimizing shareholder’s value by selecting the best choice of source of fund given the current markets was also important. Eventually, proposal from ArcelorMittal for Strategic Sale remains on the table.