Mainboard-listed Halcyon Agri and China’s Sinochem International have agreed to merge their natural rubber businesses to create the world’s largest natural rubber supply chain manager. The businesses will be combined under Halcyon Agri, which will continue to be listed on the Singapore Exchange.

The government has stipulated the mandatory use of the rupiah in oil and gas–related transactions, after nine months of delay for settling technicalities. Before implementing the measure, the Upstream Oil and Gas Special Task Force (SKK Migas) had to classify which transactions to list in Category 1 (obligatory use of rupiah in quotation and payment) and which in Category 3 (optional use of the national currency either partially or both in quotation and payment). The Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) had been chosen as the reference quotation, with zero spread, he explained. If there was a need to exchange between US dollar and rupiah, it would be settled within the same day.

The Indonesian government may have to cut some of the government spending this year as the House of Representatives delayed discussions to deliberate the tax amnesty bill, which was expected to bring additional revenue, until at least April . Mardiasmo, deputy to the finance minister, said the government had sought for deliberation of the bill so it can have some fiscal room to spend additional tax revenue. The tax amnesty policy provides lee way for tax evaders, particularly wealthy ones, to declare their wealth and come clean so they can repatriate and shift their investment portfolios from abroad into the country. The finance ministry previously estimated the policy could boost tax by $4.4 billion this year, a significant amount of extra revenue amid falling commodity prices which have hit Indonesian exporters’ revenue. The bill even set a clause to provide a significant proportion of tax discounts to targeted tax evaders who comply with the policy before March.veroxybd.com

After the taxi drivers began protesting against the ride-hailing companies, GrabTaxi and Uber, the Indonesian government decided to create a transition period for the ride-hailing services. During the transition period, companies will not be allowed to hire new drivers and expand fleets, but can operate with current drivers and vehicles. In a meeting Wednesday (23 Mar 16), the Indonesian government offered GrabTaxi and Uber co-operative agreements with registered public transportation companies, rental-car companies or taxi services. GrabTaxi and Uber have chosen to act as IT providers and must cooperate with registered public transportation companies to operate in Indonesia. GrabTaxi has decided to co-operate with rental-car companies and taxi services while Uber will co-operate with rental-car companies. Currently, all parties are discussing the length of the transition period.

Wintermar Offshore Marine (WINS) booked a net loss of US$5.7m in 2015, down 43.5% yoy from US$21.5m in 2014. 2015 net income underperformed our and market expectations which assumed a lower net loss in 2015.

Siloam International Hospitals (SILO) is preparing capex of US$100m-110m this year which will come from the internal financing and loans from its parent company. The company plans to commence the operation of its new hospital in Bau-Bau in Apr 2016 and a new hospital in Bogor in Jul 2016.

At Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s (BBRI) recent annual shareholders meeting, President Director Asmawi Syam stated that the bank will distribute Rp7.6t in dividends (Rp311.66 dividend per share). This is equivalent to a 30% dividend payout ratio of its 2015 net profit of Rp25.2t, up 4.2% yoy. With 70% retained earnings, the CAR (capital adequacy ratio) of the bank increased to 20.8% from 20.5%. The bank released additional information on its share buyback programme which took place from Oct 15 to Jan 16 with a total of 221m shares repurchased. With regard to changes in management, BRI announced that it has brought on board one new commissioner and that three directors whose terms had ended, have been replaced by three new directors. In other news, the bank stated that loan growth till Feb 16 was 14.7% yoy .

Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Barat dan Banten (BJBR) has decided on a 60% dividend payout ratio and to retain the remaining 40% of earnings. Total dividends amount to Rp828b (equivalent to Rp84.8 per share). Retained earnings will be used to strengthen the bank’s capital. According to president director Ahmad Irfan, the bank is still evaluating the decision to proceed with a rights issue to raise the bank’s equity further. The bank is still awaiting an approval from the OJK (financial services authority) to promote Taufiequrachman Ruki to the role of president commissioner.