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QTel to Own 65pc of Indosat

JAKARTA - Qatar Telecom QSC said it will own about 65 per cent of PT Indosat, Indonesia’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, after completing a tender offer on February 18 to buy the company’s remaining shares from the public.

Qatar Telecom bought around 57 per cent of the shares investors offered to sell, the company said in an e-mailed statement in Jakarta on Friday. The Qatari company offered to buy Indosat’s remaining shares it does not own already after it acquired 40.8 per cent of the company last year.

Indosat fell 8.5 per cent to 4,300 rupiah in Jakarta trading as of 3:21 p.m. local time, set for its lowest close since November 27. The shares plunged 15 per cent on Thursday as the expiry of the tender offer removed a “key stock price support,” Citigroup Inc. said in a note on Thursday.

Indonesian law allows overseas companies to own as much as 65 per cent of local mobile-phone companies, while limiti ng foreign ownership to 49 per cent in fixed-line operators.