Five bidders compete for Bank Permata<\/p>\n
Dadan Wijaksana and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has short-listed five consortia vying for a
\nmajority stake in Bank Permata, allowing them to carry out due
\ndiligence investigations into the country's seventh-largest bank
\nby assets during a 30-day period, starting Thursday.<\/p>\n
The five consortia, dominated by foreign investors, were
\nfiltered out on Tuesday by the Asset Management Company (PPA)
\nfrom 10 interested groups of investors that had earlier submitted
\ntheir request for qualification (RFQ) letters.<\/p>\n
\"These short-listed bidders were chosen based on a thorough
\nexamination of their financial strength and condition, good
\nbusiness plans for Permata in the future and high preliminary
\nbids,\" PPA chairman Mohammad Syahrial told a media gathering
\nhere.<\/p>\n
The PPA is a government-sanctioned agency in charge of
\nhandling assets formerly managed by the now-defunct Indonesian
\nBank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).<\/p>\n
The five are: a consortium of British Standard Chartered Plc.
\n(Stanchart) and Astra International; a consortium of Malaysian-
\nbased Malayan Banking Bhd. (Maybank) and state pension fund
\noperator PT Jamsostek; Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB); a
\nconsortium of Bank Panin and Australia and New Zealand-based ANZ
\nLtd.; and Malaysia's Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd., which has
\nteamed up with local Bank Bumiputera.<\/p>\n
The first consortium is an attempt by Stanchart, which obtains
\na third of its earnings from Asia, to purchase a local bank.<\/p>\n
The five consortia priced a 51 percent stake in the bank at
\n1.8 times to 2.39 times the book value, Syahrial said.<\/p>\n
\"However, their bids are just preliminary. We expect them to
\nincrease the figures for their final bids after they have
\ncompleted due diligence later on,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Of the 10 interested groups of investors, two failed to
\npresent their initial bids. They are a consortium led by Bank
\nRakyat Indonesia (BRI), which withdrew from the bidding, and a
\nconsortium of Wachofia and Artha Graha, which did deliver its bid
\nbut did so 38 minutes late after the Friday afternoon deadline.<\/p>\n
Three other consortia -- Swiss First, Bank Mandiri and Bank
\nBuana Indonesia, and British Barclays Bank Plc. and Bank Danamon
\n-- failed to make the list.<\/p>\n
PPA deputy chairman Raden Pardede said that the failure of
\nseveral local investors to make the list was simply due to the
\nhigher preliminary bids offered by the others.<\/p>\n
The short-listed bidders will have a month, once due diligence
\nhas begun, to submit their final bids on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
The government has said it expects to announce the preferred
\nbidder some time in November, to be followed by a test of
\nsuitability by the central bank, before finally declaring the
\nwinner in the third week of December.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Permata shares were up Rp 25, ending at Rp 975 on
\nthe Jakarta Stock Exchange on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Permata was established in 2002 from the merger of five ailing
\nbanks under IBRA control: Bank Bali, Bank Universal, Bank
\nArthamedia, Bank Prima Express and Bank Patriot.<\/p>\n
After the sale of the 51 percent shareholding, the government
\nplans to sell another 20 percent stake to public investors next
\nyear, with all the proceeds from the divestment allocated to help
\nfinance the 2004 state budget deficit.<\/p>\n
The government has a 97.17 percent stake in the publicly
\nlisted bank.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/five-bidders-compete-for-bank-permata-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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