Delay in BCA's IPO won't affect IBRA sale target

Delay in BCA's IPO won't affect IBRA sale target

JAKARTA (JP): The delay in the initial public offering of Bank
Central Asia (BCA) will not affect the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency's asset sale target of Rp 17 trillion (about
US$2.3 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March 31.

IBRA's chairman Cacuk Sudariyanto said here on Thursday that
the agency had "other sources" to offset the shortage resulting
from the delay in the IPO.

IBRA said on Wednesday that BCA's IPO, which was initially
scheduled for March, would be delayed to April due to
technicalities.

The delay was announced only a few days after the government
raised the agency's asset sale target for the April-December
fiscal year to Rp 18.9 trillion from Rp 16.25 trillion.

IBRA has said it had so far raised more than Rp 12 trillion in
cash and is confident that it could meet the Rp 17 trillion
target for this fiscal year.

The agency initially expected to raise Rp 3 trillion in cash
from the sale of its 30 percent stake in BCA and another Rp 3
trillion from the sale of its 40 percent stake in the publicly
listed auto giant PT Astra International.

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.

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

BCA is one of the country's largest private banks with total
assets amounting to some Rp 84.4 trillion and some 767 branches
throughout the country. (hen/rei)