Philip Morris to sell $1-B shares in Indon unit

Philip Morris International Inc., which makes and markets Marlboro cigarettes outside the US, is seeking to sell over $1 billion worth of shares in its Indonesian operation PT HM Sampoerna Tbk., which if successful will be one of the biggest shares sales in southeast Asian nations year-to-date. The New York-headquartered firm has tapped a clutch of investment banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, and local firm Mandiri Sekuritas to pull off the big share sale, people familiar with the situation tell The Wall Street Journal. The move will allow Philip Morris to comply with local Indonesia stock exchange rules that require all Indonesia listed companies to have minimum 7.5 percent of their shares in public hands. Philip Morris owns a 98.2-percent stake in PT HM Sampoerna Tbk., which has a market capitalization of about $23.6 billion. The sale comes at a time when Indonesian stock exchange has seen volatile trading in recent sessions. After trading near a record high at the beginning of April, the Jakarta Composite Index is now down 5.6 percent year to date and is one of the worst performers in the region so far this year. (WSJ)