BI needs 30 days to check out Commerce Asset

BI needs 30 days to check out Commerce Asset

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bank Indonesia said on Friday that the central bank needed 30
days at the most to screen Commerce Asset Holding Berhad to see
whether the Malaysian financial firm was fit to acquire the
publicly-listed Bank Niaga.

Senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution said that Bank Indonesia
was still waiting for the necessary documents from the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to start the screening process.

The documents include Commerce Asset Holding's business plan
for Bank Niaga.

IBRA named Commerce Asset Holding late on Thursday as the
final bidder for the government's 51 percent stake in Bank Niaga.
The announcement appears to mark the end of months of
negotiations over the sale of the medium-sized bank, which was
previously delayed due to the low bids received.

Commerce Asset Holding offered Rp 1.057 trillion (around
US$120 million) for the stake, which translates to Rp 26.5 per
share. IBRA's floor price was set at Rp 24.84 per share.

The final announcement of the winning bidder for the Bank
Niaga stake should be made in October.

"They have produced a good business plan and shown commitment
to developing the bank. They've also made a good offer," IBRA
chairman Syafruddin Temenggung said.

Other investors, including the ANZ Panin consortium, Bank
Victoria and the Batavia Fund, had previously expressed serious
interest in purchasing the Bank Niaga stake.

IBRA once owned 97 percent of the bank, which it took over at
the height of the late 1990s financial crisis, but since then has
been selling small stakes through the stock market, thus helping
to drive the price lower.