Govt to sell other banks if BNI divestment canceled
Govt to sell other banks if BNI divestment canceled
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government plans to sell its remaining minority shares in
publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Niaga and Bank
Danamon this year if the House of Representatives rejects the
Bank BNI divestment plan, according to a senior official.
"If the BNI divestment plan is rejected, we'll have to seek
alternative funding sources," said Anggito Abimanyu, head of
agency for the analysis of economics, finance and international
cooperation at the Ministry of Finance.
He said on Friday that the House had previously given its
approval for the sale of the minority shares in the above three
banks.
The government has planned to sell a 30 percent stake in
publicly listed BNI, the country's third largest bank in terms of
assets, to public investors sometime in October in a bid to raise
cash to help finance the 2004 state budget deficit. The sale is
a key part of this year's privatization program, which aims to
raise a total of Rp 5 trillion (US$545.85 million) in cash. So
far the government has raised around Rp 3.5 trillion in
privatization proceeds.
BCA is the second largest bank in the country, of which 51.43
percent is controlled by investment firm Farindo Investment,
while the government owns a 6.48 percent stake. Danamon is the
fifth largest bank, and the Singaporean government's investment
arm Temasek Holdings controls a 62 percent stake. Meanwhile,
Niaga, the ninth largest bank, is 52.8 percent controlled by
Malaysia's Commerce-Aset Holdings, with the remainder in the
hands of the government and the investing public.
The government has had some difficulty obtaining approval from
the House for the BNI divestment program as some lawmakers
continued to oppose the plan. The House is scheduled to convene
next Tuesday to decide whether it would finally approve or reject
the plan.
Elsewhere, Anggito said that the sale of a 51 percent stake in
Bank Permata later this year would also raise cash to help
finance the state budget.
Currently a number of consortia including top global banks are
conducting due diligence process on Permata.