Govt agrees to IBRA's deal with Guthrie<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (Dow Jones): The government has agreed to the sale of
\npalm oil plantations to Malaysian firm Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd.
\nafter months of delay caused by political interference in the
\ndeal.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, reached a
\nfinal agreement with Guthrie earlier this week to sell the
\nSumatra plantations formally belonging to the Salim Group, IBRA
\nVice President Thomas Lembong said.<\/p>\n
\"We have surmounted all issues that needed to be resolved in
\norder to pursue the completion of this transaction,\" Lembong told
\nDow Jones Newswires.<\/p>\n
Both parties are likely to sign legal documents on the deal
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
IBRA reached an outline agreement with Guthrie in November
\nlast year, but Parliament stalled the finalization of the deal
\namid concern Indonesia was handing prize assets to a regional
\ncompetitor.<\/p>\n
Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose party led calls
\nto delay the sale, earlier this week gave the go-ahead for the
\ndeal.<\/p>\n
Guthrie agreed last year to buy 180,000 hectares of
\nplantations, largely in Sumatra and the Indonesian side of Borneo
\nisland, in a deal worth $350 million.<\/p>\n
But the deal appeared to stall when Guthrie asked the
\ngovernment to issue a confirmation letter saying that a 1999
\ndecree setting a size limit for individual plantation companies
\nwouldn't apply in this case.<\/p>\n
Although the decree wasn't supposed to apply to plantation
\ncompanies already in existence, Guthrie's request led to calls
\nfrom Parliament to delay the sale.<\/p>\n
IBRA then entered a round of lobbying with Megawati, finally
\nwinning approval earlier this week.<\/p>\n
IBRA took over the plantation companies from Salim, once
\nIndonesia's largest conglomerate, following the 1997 financial
\ncrash.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-agrees-to-ibras-deal-with-guthrie-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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