BII stake sale raises Rp1.35 trillion
BII stake sale raises Rp1.35 trillion
Bloomberg, Jakarta
The government raised about Rp 1.35 trillion (US$147 million)
from the sale of 15.25 percent stake in Bank Internasional
Indonesia (BII), the country's sixth-largest lender, the asset-
sale agency said.
The government received demand for 2.5 times the 7.29 billion
shares it offered international and local investors, said Renny
Rorong on Tuesday, a spokesman at PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset
(PPA).
The shares were priced at Rp 185 apiece, matching Tuesday's
closing price.
Indonesia has been selling stakes in banks and other companies
it acquired after the 1997 Asian financial crisis to reduce its
budget deficit and recoup part of the money it spent on the
bailout.
The response to the sale is a sign of confidence in the
government's handling of the economy, which is expected to expand
5.5 percent this year, from estimated 5 percent growth in 2004,
investors such as Winston Sual said.
"It's a sign the government is doing the right thing now,"
said Sual, who helps manage about $1 billion of Indonesian assets
at Panin Asset Management in Jakarta.
Still, he didn't buy Bank Internasional stock because he
considered it expensive.
The government sold 51 percent of Bank Internasional to
Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest lender, and partners
including Temasek Holdings Pte., the Singapore government's
investment company, in October 2003.
The additional offering was the first sale of a bank stake in
2005 by the government, which faces a deficit of Rp 17.4 trillion
this year.
The government spent more than Rp 450 trillion bailing out
banks after the 1997 crisis, triggered by a currency plunge after
the devaluation of the Thai baht.
Credit Lyonnais SA, a unit of France's biggest bank Credit
Agricole SA, managed the sale. The government owned 20.8 percent
of Bank Internasional before the offering.
Shares of BII were suspended from trading before the
completion of the sale, the Jakarta stock exchange said in a
statement. The stock closed unchanged at Rp 185 on Tuesday.
The bank shares rose 68 percent last year.
Indonesia plans to sell minority stakes in other lenders
including PT Bank Central Asia, the country's second-largest
lender by assets, and PT Bank Danamon, the fifth-biggest.
The government has a 5 percent stake in Bank Central Asia and
controls 20.5 percent of Danamon.
Indonesia raised 3.93 trillion rupiah selling a 71 percent
stake in PT Bank Permata last year. PT Astra International and
Standard Chartered Plc, a U.K. bank that makes two-thirds of its
profit in Asia, bought 62 percent of Bank Permata for Rp 3.44
trillion.
The government also sold a 16.3 percent stake in Bank Niaga to
investors for Rp 585.8 billion last month.