ANZ still interested in bidding for Niaga stake
ANZ still interested in bidding for Niaga stake
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta
Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp. Ltd. said Monday it is still interested in bidding for a majority stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Niaga despite the government's decision to cancel the original auction due to low bids.
"We continue to be interested. We are disappointed the previous sale didn't proceed but we are happy to be patient with the process," ANZ media relations officer Paul Edwards told AFX- Asia, an AFP-owned financial newswire.
ANZ and Indonesia's PT Panin Bank teamed up to bid for a 51 percent stake in Bank Niaga. A consortium led by Malaysia's Commerce Bank Bhd.i was the second final bidder.
The auction was canceled when the bids came in at Rp 20 (0.15 U.S. cent) to Rp 30 per share, as opposed to Bank Niaga's then- market value of around Rp 70.
ANZ owns 11 percent of Panin Bank with an option to buy another 18 percent.
Edwards, speaking from Melbourne, would not say whether his bank will be upgrading its valuation before the next auction.
"It's a bit difficult to say anything more but it's an interesting question as to whether the bid was too low as the prices implied by the three percent are too high," he said, referring to the percentage of Bank Niaga shares currently listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) owns around 97 percent of the stock after bailing out Niaga in the late 1990s, along with numerous other banks hit by the regional financial crisis.
The government last week promised the International Monetary Fund it will relaunch the strategic sale of a majority stake by the end of this month after offering 20 percent directly to the market.
It expects to complete the sale of up to 71 percent in total by Sept. 15.
Edwards said the direct offering may be a more accurate indicator of how the market rates Bank Niaga stock, as a three percent free-float is far too tight to reflect true value.
The government is counting on IBRA asset sales to generate Rp 19.5 trillion ($2.2 billion) this year to help meet an estimated budget deficit of around Rp 42 trillion -- equivalent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product.