Nurfika Osman and Raras Cahyafitri, Jakarta – As the government has withheld its approval for PT Pegadaian and PT Pos Indonesia to debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), it is almost certain that there will be no state-owned companies floating their shares this year.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said the government's privatization committee had decided to withhold approval for the initial public offering (IPO) plans of pawnbroker PT Pegadaian and postal firm PT Pos Indonesia.

The decision was made during a recent meeting that was also attended by Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik.

"We are not going to see any SOEs go public this year. For PT Pegadaian, the meeting has decided they will never carry out an IPO because it will affect the lives of low-income people in the country," he said.

The company has long served Indonesia's low-income population in order to help improve welfare. Floating its shares on the IDX would be a problem because it could later operate as a profit-oriented company, imposing high interest rates on customers, Dahlan said.

Regarding Pos Indonesia, the minister said that the privatization committee wanted the company to conduct a revaluation of its assets before carrying out an IPO.

"Asset revaluation will have large consequences for PT Pos Indonesia because they have to pay more tax and they do not yet have enough funds [to pay the tax]," Dahlan added.

According to Dahlan, the firm's assets are currently valued at Rp 5 trillion (US$520 million) and a revaluation would boost the figure to around Rp 10 trillion.

The minister said it would be better for the postal company to focus its business on serving people this year rather than entering the bourse.

In addition, he said that the plan of cement producer PT Semen Baturaja to debut on the IDX was not discussed during the last meeting. He said the company was waiting for a green light from the House of Representatives.

Previously, the government had expected the cement producer to go public in the first half of 2012.

Throughout last year, only construction company PT Waskita Karya offered its shares on the IDX.

Separately, IDX president director Ito Warsito said that the bourse expected to see more state-owned enterprises entering the stock exchange to help it boost market capitalization.

"Every IPO, both by state-owned companies and private firms, will increase market capitalization. There are 125 state-owned enterprises that booked profits [in 2012], meaning that they are suitable for IPOs," Ito said.

The bourse is aiming to welcome 30 new companies to the trading floor this year, higher than last year's 21 new share listings and one re-listing.