BCA gets green light to float shares on JSX despite losses

BCA gets green light to float shares on JSX despite losses

JAKARTA (JP): The management of the Jakarta Stock Exchange
(JSX) will accept the planned listing of Bank Central Asia on the
bourse despite the fact that the bank suffered losses in the last
two consecutive years.

The JSX said Thursday that BCA, once the country's largest
banks, had met all the requirements except that which required
the bank to book profits in at least two consecutive years before
listing.

The JSX, however, said the financial loss was understandable
because it had not resulted from mismanagement but rather was due
to the country's economic crisis, which brought harsh effects to
most of the country's business sectors.

The JSX said the exception contained in an initial listing
contract signed with BCA on Wednesday was essential to ensure
that the profit requirement would not prevent companies with good
prospects from entering the stock market.

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) will sell
about 30 percent of the shares it holds in Bank Central Asia
(BCA) in an initial public offering (IPO) in February, an
official at the agency said.

IBRA has appointed Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and local
securities firms PT Bahana Securities and PT Danareksa Securities
to oversee the IPO.

The agency initially planned to sell the BCA shares in
December, but had to delay the offering due to fallout caused by
the high-profile Bank Bali scandal.

IBRA, a unit of the finance ministry, took over BCA last year
after its owners, the Salim Group and a number of former
president Soeharto's children, failed to repay the bank's debts
to the government.

BCA, one of the country's largest private banks, has total
assets amounting to some Rp 84.4 trillion and operates some 767
branches throughout the country.(hen)