Danamon bidders urged to raise offers
Danamon bidders urged to raise offers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) expects the three
bidders shortlisted for a majority stake in Bank Danamon to raise
their bidding prices.
"The (preliminary) bids are not yet final. They will still
need to discuss that further, so there is still a possibility for
changes," IBRA deputy chairman for bank restructuring I Nyoman
Sender told reporters on Friday.
He did not, however, say what price level the agency was
expecting.
Some legislators earlier urged the agency to postpone the sale
of the government's shares in publicly listed Bank Danamon due to
the low prices offered by the bidders.
The three bidding consortia are the Asia Financial Indonesia
consortium (consisting of Temasek Holdings of Singapore and the
Deutsche Bank), the Bank Artha Graha consortium and the Bhakti
Capital Indonesia consortium.
The three were deemed eligible by IBRA after they met the
March 17 deadline to submit their official bids, ranging from Rp
1,015 to Rp 1,100 per share. The government is selling a
controlling 51 percent stake in Bank Danamon, one of the
country's largest banks.
Critics said that with around 2.5 billion shares on offer,
even the highest offered price would only bring in some Rp 2.9
trillion in total proceeds.
One bidder that reportedly made an offer of Rp 1,700 per share
for the Bank Danamon stake was disqualified by IBRA because it
failed to submit its bid on time.
IBRA owns a 99.4 percent stake in Bank Danamon after the
government injected bonds in the late 1990s to save the bank from
going under during the banking crisis.
The agency is mandated to sell the bank to raise cash to help
finance the state budget deficit. IBRA is targeted to raise Rp 18
trillion this year.
The three shortlisted bidders completed on Friday the due
diligence process on Bank Danamon.
According to the schedule, the three have until April 21 to
submit their final bids.
Sender said he had no knowledge as to what level the bidders
might increase their bidding prices. "This is a business deal,
these things are part of business strategy."