Govt advised not to sell Krakatau Steel to Mittal

The State Enterprises (BUMN) Watch asked the government on Sunday to drop its plan to sell state-owned steel company PT Krakatau Steel to the world`s biggest steel company Arcellor Mittal under a strategic sales scheme.

If the government was to privatize PT Krakatau, it should opt to an initial public offering (IPO) to prevent foreign control of the company`s shares and avoid internal conflicts in the company, BUMN Watch Chief Naldy Nazar Haroen said.

Naldy said foreign control of strategic state enterprises` shares would not only harm the interests of the state and nation but also cause conflicts within the state companies in question.

"The track record of Lakshmi Mittal (owner of Arcellor Mittal) in Surabaya is not quite good. During 30 years of its presence in Surabaya, it made no significant progress. In fact, its nail factory in Surabaya has even collapsed," he said.

Earlier, State Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil said ...