RI to start selling 16% Bank Niaga stake<\/p>\n
By Shanthy Nambiar and Aloysius Unditu, Jakarta\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n
Indonesia's government will start selling a stake of as much
\nas 16 percent in PT Bank Niaga this week, as it seeks to finance
\nits budget deficit.<\/p>\n
The stock will be offered to investors after the close of
\ntrading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange at 4:00 p.m. today,
\nMohammad Syahrial, president director of PT Perusahaan Pengelola
\nAset, a government agency in charge of selling state assets, said
\ntoday. He didn't say at what price the stock would be sold.<\/p>\n
\"We were ordered by the by the government to divest the
\nstake,\" he said in Jakarta. The stake has a market value of
\nRp 569.8 billion (US$63.3 million).<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government is selling assets, including bank
\nstakes, to raise funds to cover a budget deficit estimated at
\nRp 26.3 trillion this year. Asset sales are also aimed at
\nrecouping part of the more than Rp 450 trillion it spent to bail
\nout lenders after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 5, the Finance Ministry said the government plans to
\nsell its remaining stakes in banks, including PT Bank Central
\nAsia and PT Bank Internasional Indonesia, by the end of this year
\nfor Rp 10.68 trillion.<\/p>\n
\"It is good timing\" given that earnings at many Indonesian
\nlenders have rebounded this year, increasing the allure of bank
\nshares, said Winston Sual, who helps manage $1 billion in
\nIndonesian assets at PaninAsset Management in Jakarta. \"The
\ninvestors which now control the lender have a chance to increase
\ntheir stakes in Niaga.\"<\/p>\n
Bank Niaga has said that it expects profit to rise to Rp 500
\nbillion this year from Rp 467.3 billion in 2003. It plans to
\nextend Rp 2.5 trillion in new loans in the second half of the
\nyear, most of it to small-and medium-sized companies and to
\nconsumers, President Director Peter B. Stock said earlier.<\/p>\n
Niaga's net income rose to Rp 435 billion in the first nine
\nmonths of the year from Rp 330 billion a year ago.<\/p>\n
UBS AG was hired to help manage the sale on the stock market
\nof minority stakes in Niaga and three more lenders this year. The
\ngovernment has a 21.5 percent stake in Niaga, a lender partly
\nowned by Malaysia's Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd.<\/p>\n
Shares of Niaga, which have risen 30 percent this year, fell
\nRp 15, or 3.2 percent, to Rp 455 at the midday break on the
\nJakarta Stock Exchange today.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government owns 5 percent of Bank Central Asia,
\nIndonesia's second-largest lender, 20.8 percent of Bank
\nInternasional Indonesia, the No. 6, and 10.5 percent of PT Bank
\nDanamon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On Nov. 4, the
\ngovernment raised Rp 1.74 trillion selling a 10 percent stake in
\nDanamon, the nation's fifth-largest lender.<\/p>",
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