Bahana to build more venture capital firms

Bahana to build more venture capital firms

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned venture capital company PT
Bahana Artha Ventura, which last month started operating a
venture capital firm in Bandung, West Java, will establish three
more similar businesses in East Java and West Sumatra this year.

Bahana's director Hafiz Arief said yesterday that the newly
established venture capital firm in Bandung, which was set up in
cooperation with local companies with a paid-up capital of Rp 3
billion (US$1.4 million), is still assessing potential clients
which mostly operate in the manufacturing industry.

"The other three capital venture firms will also have a paid-
up capital of around Rp 3 billion each," he said.

The establishment of the venture capital firms outside Jakarta
is essential in giving new companies in provinces more access to
its services, he said.

Hafiz said that Bahana Artha has provided an equities totaling
around Rp 2.5 billion to 11 newly established companies this
year.

"Most of the companies receiving Bahana Artha's financial aid
are operating well," he said. He, however, declined to disclose
either the total amount of dividends it had collected or its
outstanding equity participation.

He expected that Bahana Artha would provide equity for three
other companies before the end of this year.

Response from small and medium-scale companies towards Bahana
Artha's services was very encouraging, given the sharp increase
in the number of new companies applying for its financial
services, Hafiz said.

"But we can not meet all the requirements as only some of the
applications are feasible," he said, describing that only less
than five of around 35 companies applying for Bahana Artha's aid
are eligible.

Hafiz said that most companies applying for financial
assistance are not covered with enough legal bases, such as the
necessary operational licenses. Furthermore, the majority of them
lack skills in auditing their own financial reports.(hen)