Govt mulls turning Dipasena into SOE<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has been considering turning privately-owned PT
\nDipasena Citra Darmaja, Southeast Asia's largest shrimp farming
\ncompany, into a state-owned firm after failing to sell it to
\nprospective investors due to a number of irregularities at the
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar said his ministry would first
\nappoint an independent auditor to audit the company's assets,
\nperformance and legal affairs.<\/p>\n
\"The government currently controls Dipasena, 100 percent. The
\ncompany has great prospects for becoming the world's largest
\nshrimp farming company, with promising returns for the state,\"
\nthe minister said late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Dipasena assets, previously owned by tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim,
\nwho is also chairman of the Gajah Tunggal Group, were transferred
\nto the government in 2002 -- via the now-defunct Indonesian Bank
\nRestructuring Agency (IBRA) -- to partly settle Sjamsul's Rp 28
\ntrillion (US$3.014 million) debts.<\/p>\n
The debts were the result of the channeling of Bank Indonesia
\nliquidity support (BLBI) funds to support Sjamsul's Bank Dagang
\nNasional Indonesia cope with massive runs during the monetary
\ncrisis in 1997.<\/p>\n
In 1998, IBRA claimed Dipasena was worth about Rp 20 trillion.
\nHowever, an audit conducted by IBRA in 2002 showed the company's
\nassets were merely one-tenth of IBRA's figure, about Rp 2
\ntrillion.<\/p>\n
Confusion over the exact value of the company's assets had
\ndiscouraged potential investors from taking over the firm.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Finance's reappraisal of Dipasena assets was
\naimed to clarify the firm's current asset value.<\/p>\n
At present, Dipasena assets are managed by state asset
\nmanagement firm PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA), which is
\nunder the auspices of the finance ministry. PPA is tasked with
\nmanaging unsold assets previously handled by IBRA.<\/p>\n
In a bid to help revitalize Dipasena, Yusuf said the
\ngovernment would immediately inject fresh capital into the
\ncompany once it had completed the firm's financial and legal
\naudit.<\/p>\n
Dipasena, which has a concession of about 180,000 hectares of
\nland for shrimp farming in Lampung, can only utilize 30 percent
\nof its production capacity due to its lack of working capital.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-mulls-turning-dipasena-into-soe-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}