NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Amongst today's highlights is Bapepam's decision to not approve the IPO of Adaro Energy due to a law dispute between subsidiary Adaro Indonesia and Beckett. Approval is pending the outcome from the court's ruling on the dispute. Meanwhile, dividend season is starting to peak as BMRI and PTBA declared dividends. BMRI declared dividends of Rp186 per share or 90% of its FY07 net profit. The dividend payout includes annual dividend payout of 50% plus special dividend payout of 40%. Minister of State Owned Enterprise stated that the biggest bank in Indonesia is currently well capitalized, hence there is no immediate needs to strengthen its equity. As such, the bank should distribute most of its profits as dividends. PTBA is also paying dividends higher than what it proposed. The company proposed to distribute 40% of last year's net profit, while the government asked for 50%. As such, the coal miner is to pay DPS of nearly Rp165. PTBA shareholders also decided not to grant approval for the coal miner to acquire BAS. In other corporate news, BUMI stated that it had received 2 coal sale contracts for 5m tons, which would be delivered in 2008 and
2009. Value of the contracts is estimated at US$660m, translating to selling price of US$132 per ton. However, all parties are still finalizing the contracts.