Indonesia’s Trade Ban on Eatertainment Lifted

Ivan Dasa Saputra

The Indonesia Stock Exchange said on Friday that it had lifted its trading suspension on shares of Eatertainment International, an entertainment and restaurant company that has switched its business to coal mining.

The bourse suspended trading of the stock on Thursday after it had detected unusual trading. Shares of the company rose significantly on Tuesday to trade at Rp 2,325, rising 11 percent in the market’s opening minutes and prompting IDX management to suspend the stock.

Eatertainment, which is traded on the IDX under the ticker symbol SMMT, announced in June that it was switching its core business into mining through the acquisition of two mining firms, one in Sumatra and another in Kalimantan.

The company bought a 99.12 percent stake in Nagamas Makmur Jaya, which indirectly has a 39 percent effective stake in International Prima Coal, a venture between the Rajawali Group and Bukit Asam. The acquisition was valued at Rp 146 billion ($15.5 million).

In the other acquisition, Eatertainment bought new shares in Triaryani as a coal concession holder in South Sumatra of 2,100 hectares, at a value of Rp 137 billion. The shares were issued by Rajawali Resources, which owns 85 percent of the company.

The company raised Rp 410 billion by selling 820 million shares to help finance the acquisition.

Rajawali Resources is controlled by privately held Rajawali Corpora, a company controlled by billionaire Peter Sondakh. The Jakarta-based Rajawali has interests in hotels, cement, consumer goods, transport and department stores across the nation.

The group plans to launch an initial public offering for Expressindo Transindo Utama, the operator of Express Taxi, later this year.