Indomobil's owner revealed, questions remain<\/p>\n
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Reacting to suspicion that the Salim Group might have regained
\ncontrol of PT Indomobil Sukses International, Indomobil's new
\nowners revealed their identities on Monday, but fell short of
\nproving that theirs was not Salim's money.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana
\nSukardi was undecided over the possibility of retendering
\nIndomobil, an automotive company formerly owned by Salim.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot confirm (the retender) since investors are sensitive
\nto things like this. If we have to retender this, nobody would
\nwant to buy from us again,\" he was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
And the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which
\nsold Indomobil, defended itself against charges it failed to
\nsecure the approval of the Financial Sector Policy Committee
\n(FSPC) for the sale. IBRA said they did not need FSPC's approval.<\/p>\n
The shady sales process sparked suspicion that Salim had
\nregained control of Indomobil, which IBRA took over through a
\ndebt settlement deal with the group.<\/p>\n
Only after acquiring some of its assets pledged to the
\ngovernment, Salim was banned from buying back any other assets
\nuntil it settled its debts with IBRA.<\/p>\n
Notariza Taher, senior vice president of PT Trimegah
\nSecurities, which led a consortium of investors which purchased
\nIndomobil, said: \"None of the members of the Trimegah consortium
\nis affiliated to the Salim Group.\"<\/p>\n
Last month IBRA sold a 72.63 percent stake and convertible
\nbonds in Indomobil for only Rp 625 billion (about US$60.1
\nmillion) -- far below its assets-transfer value of Rp 2.14
\ntrillion.<\/p>\n
Notariza said the new owners of Indomobil were PT Cipta Sarana
\nDuta Perkasa, a consortium whose members were PT Lautan Luas
\nGroup, PT Multi Internasional Group, and the Singapore-based
\ninvestment firm, Parallax Capital Management.<\/p>\n
The publicly listed Lautan Luas is one of Indonesia's largest
\nlocal chemical distribution and manufacturing companies.<\/p>\n
Multi Internasional is a Surabaya-based widely diversified
\ngroup with businesses ranging from property and building
\nmaterials to motorcycles and spare parts.<\/p>\n
Singapore's Parallax is a regional investment firm with
\nclients in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n
But a key question of whether or not their investment was
\nfunded with Salim's money was left unanswered during the meeting.<\/p>\n
As an investment firm, the identities of Parallax's clients
\nare confidential.<\/p>\n
Eugene Park, one of the four partners at Parallax said it
\nrepresented no one with ties to the Salim Group.<\/p>\n
He also denied Salim had approached Parallax in Singapore.<\/p>\n
While Indomobil's single largest shareholder, Lautan Luas
\nturned out not to be the actual owner of Indomobil.<\/p>\n
An owner of Lautan Luas said the funds for Indomobil had come
\nfrom the two families who jointly controlled Lautan Luas.<\/p>\n
They were the Hajadi and Masrim families, said Pranata Hajadi.<\/p>\n
\"Lautan Luas did not raise any funds to acquire Indomobil, but
\nits owners did,\" he said, adding a foreign bank lent them some of
\nthe money. He refused to go into details of the funding source.<\/p>\n
Indomobil's third owner, Multi Internasional is 99 percent
\nowned by Kuswanda Tanujaya, who was not present at the meeting.<\/p>\n
Trimegah did not state the funding source behind Kuswanda.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, IBRA denied it had violated its own procedures by
\nskipping FSPC's approval on Indomobil's sale.<\/p>\n
According to the agency, IBRA does not need the FSPC's
\nauthority for disposing assets worth more than Rp 1 trillion.<\/p>\n
But head of IBRA asset disposal Dasa Sutantio admitted there
\nhad been confusion on the issue prior to Indomobil's sale.<\/p>\n
\"We confirmed to the FSPC secretariat, which then told us that
\nwe didn't need one (approval),\" Dasa told a press briefing.<\/p>\n
FSPC secretary Syafruddin Temenggung could not be reached. The
\nFSPC groups together senior economic ministers in charge of
\nIBRA's debt restructuring deals worth more than Rp 1 trillion.<\/p>\n
Dasa said IBRA had obtained the approval of the Finance
\nMinister back in 1999, which he said was enough.<\/p>\n
That contradicts with sources at IBRA claiming that no asset
\nworth more than Rp 1 trillion can be sold without the FSPC's
\nconsent.<\/p>\n
Identities of Indomobil's 72.61 percent stake<\/p>\n
(Investors -- Stake % -- Source of Funds):
\nLautan Luas -- 43.2 -- founding shareholders;
\nParallax Capital -- 36.8 -- clients;
\nMulti Internasional -- 20.0 -- unclear.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indomobils-owner-revealed-questions-remain-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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