Canadian firm to acquire Dharmala stake
JAKARTA (JP): Manulife Financial of Canada, foreign partner of joint venture PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI), has placed a Rp 160 billion (US$17.7 million) bid to acquire now insolvent PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera's (DSS) 40 percent stake in the joint venture, a source said.
A representative from one of DSS's creditors said on Wednesday that the Canadian firm, currently holding 51 percent stake in AJMI, was ready to finance the acquisition to increase its stake AJMI to 91 percent.
"Their bid is well above the latest appraised value on the company by an independent firm," he said.
The value of the 40 percent stake of AJMI according to an appraisal conducted by independent firm Deloitte and Touche's in early 1999 stood at between Rp 109 billion and Rp 145 billion.
AJMI is currently owned by Manulife Financial of Canada, 51 percent, the World Bank's private investment arm International Finance Corporation, 9 percent, and DSS, 40 percent.
DSS was declared bankrupt in early June this year at the Jakarta Commercial Court, following the company's failure to repay its matured debts.
Trying to recoup their money, the creditors -- following DSS's bankruptcy status -- decided to liquidate the valuable assets of the insolvent company and distribute all the sale proceeds proportionately among the creditors.
The process of selling the assets of the bankrupt company and distributing them among the creditors, according to the 1998 Bankruptcy Law, must be conducted under the court's supervision by an independent party called a "court receiver".
In DSS's case, the liquidation process did not go smoothly as creditors disagreed with the commercial court on who should serve as the court receiver.
But, the commercial court-appointed receiver, Lucas from Lucas & Partners law firm, finally had to resign from his position following the creditors' strong demand to maintain the right to appoint a court receiver on their own.
The creditors of DSS voted on Thursday to appoint Ari Ahmad Effendi from AAE & Associates as the new court receiver to replace Lucas.
Lucas claimed that he had done his job as a court receiver for DSS professionally, but had to pull out as he saw there were unhealthy intentions among the creditors. Lucas did not elaborate.
Another representative from one of the creditors said that nothing was wrong with Lucas, saying, "We just have to have a court receiver that is appointed by ourselves, not by the court."
The creditors' right to appoint their own court receiver is clearly backed by a clause in the 1998 Bankruptcy Law, he added.
A court receiver, under the supervision of the commercial court and the concerned creditors, should work for the creditors' interests by striving to reach the highest possible price in selling the insolvent company's assets and proportionately distributing the proceeds among the creditors.
A court receiver, as stipulated by the 1998 decree of the then minister of justice, receives a progressive commission fee of between 1.5 percent and 6 percent of the assets sold.
DSS owns 11 affiliated companies, which include AJMI, as well as publicly listed companies PT BBL Dharmala Finance, PT ABDA and PT Maskapai Reasuransi Indonesia.
The above representative of DSS's creditor estimated that the court receiver would receive a commission fee of about Rp 17 billion from selling DSS assets.(udi)