30 investors express interest in buying Wisma BCA building

JAKARTA (JP): At least 30 foreign and local investors have expressed interest in purchasing Wisma Bank Central Asia (BCA), which recently was offered in an international tender.

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said on Thursday that almost half of the prospective investors, most of whom are from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, had signed a confidentiality agreement to allow them to receive details of the office building.

"We are happy with the positive response that we have received so far," said Dasa Suntantio, the head of the asset disposal division at the agency.

He said additional investors were expected to file bids before the tender was closed within the next three weeks.

The due diligence process for the sale of the BCA building began on Aug. 1, during which time prospective buyers can inspect and review the building and relevant financial reports and legal documents.

"Investors who are still interested will subsequently review the tender conditions and agreement in greater detail prior to submitting their offers by Aug. 23 at the latest," Dasa said.

He said that during the fourth week of August, PT Holdiko Perkasa, which manges the building, and marketing agent CB Richard Ellis would evaluate all submitted bids.

Dasa added the winning bidder would be selected through a similar process and would be announced by the end of August.

The Wisma BCA building has two modern towers of 20 stories and 10 stories with a total rentable area of 37,511 square meters, and is located on 10,444 square meters of land in Jakarta's primary business district. The building is one of the assets surrendered to IBRA by the Salim Group as part of its debt repayment.

The proceeds from the sale of the building will help finance the state budget, which has been burdened by the high cost of the country's bank restructuring and recapitalization programs.

IBRA, which controls over Rp 600 trillion worth of assets, has sold a number of small and medium-size properties since earlier this year as part of its asset disposal program.

The agency announced on Thursday it had raised about Rp 726.52 billion from property auctions between April and July. IBRA also said more auctions would be held over the next few months, including auctions in Surabaya, Semarang, Bali, Bandung, Malang, Balikpapan, Pontianak and Manado in August.

The agency hopes to raise Rp 1 trillion from property auctions during the April-December 2000 fiscal year.(hen)