Bank Papan's management overhauled after takeover

JAKARTA (JP): The management of the publicly-listed Bank Papan Sejahtera underwent a major change yesterday following the controversial takeover of the bank's majority stake by obscure local businessman Jopie Widjaya.

A. Asmuadji and Alita Marsanti were re-appointed respectively as the president and the vice president of the bank at the extraordinary meeting of its shareholders, held less than a month after Jopie and his business associates acquired the majority stake in the bank.

But two other key executives were replaced by Roekman Prawirasastra, of Bank Internasional Indonesia, and Muhammad Afdhal R. P. Pamilih, of Bank Niaga.

The new majority shareholder, however, vowed to maintain the bank's core business in home-ownership and property financing, despite the major change in the management.

"The bank's mission to support home-ownership and property financing is obviously much stronger," Asmuadji said, allaying fears of a shift in the bank's core business after the takeover.

Asmuadji said that shareholders endorsed the management's proposal to clearly stipulate the business mission in the statute of the bank, which is listed on both the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges.

"It is a breakthrough because, previously, the business mission was not contained at all in the bank's statute," he said of the management's success in securing approval for a continuation of the bank's core financing activities.

PT Infiniti Wahana, a company owned by Jopie, purchased 22.52 percent of the bank's shares last month through the Surabaya Stock Exchange. At the same time, Infiniti's seven affiliated companies bought a further 29 percent of the bank, giving Jopie, as the single majority shareholder, a 52 percent controlling stake.

The stock transactions, however, caused public concern.

Many business analysts have expressed doubts about the financial strength of Jopie, the founder and a majority shareholder in PT Steady Safe, a public transportation company listed on the Surabaya exchange.

Christianto Wibisono of the PDBI business data center, questioned, not only Jopie's financial capabilities, but also his business credibility.

Kwik Kian Gie, another noted analyst, has also raised his eyebrows over the acquisition attempt.

Security analysts claim that the takeover was financed by loans totaling about US$25 million recently raised by Steady Safe in Singapore.

Jopie denied the charge, adding that there was nothing strange in the transactions and that there were no illegal funds used to finance the acquisition.

"The funds were my own.... they could be from my company," he told reporters after the shareholders' meeting in response to a barrage of questions over the sources of the money used for the takeover.

He also denied the charge that the acquisition was a hostile takeover, saying that Bank PDFCI, which divested its entire stake in Bank Papan, had offered its stocks to both local and overseas institutions long before his company carried out the takeover.

"PDFCI's shares were also offered to Astek, Taspen and foreign institutions," Jopie said, denying that the deal was a case of insider trading.

Bank Papan was established in 1980 as a non-bank finance company, In 1993 it changed its status and operated as a commercial bank in order to comply with the new banking law.

The bank is one the healthiest in the country, with both assets and earnings growing steadily over the past three years. Its total assets nearly doubled last year to Rp 928.82 billion, from Rp 457.55 billion in 1993; while its after-tax profit also booked significant growth to reach Rp 16.90 billion, up from Rp 9.51 billion.

The shareholders' meeting endorsed yesterday the appointment of Jopie and his two business associates, Hidayat Tjandradjaya and Widodo Budidarmo, as new members of the supervisory board.

The bank's former chief commissioner and three former commissioners were reappointed. (hen)