Govt to start Permata sale by Dec. 10
Govt to start Permata sale by Dec. 10
Bloomberg,
Jakarta
Indonesia may start selling a fifth of Bank Permata, the
nation's seventh-largest lender, on the stock exchange by Dec.
10, seeking to raise funds to further reduce its budget deficit.
The government expects to sell the stake at Rp 703 a share,
the price paid by Standard Chartered Plc and PT Astra
International last month for a 51 percent stake, said the asset
sale agency. At that price, which marks a 43 percent discount to
the bank's closing share price yesterday, the government would
raise Rp 1.08 trillion (US$119.2 million) from the sale.
"We're trying to take advantage of the strong momentum on the
Jakarta Stock Exchange," Mohammad Syahrial, chairman of PT
Perusahaan Pengelola Aset, the government's asset-sale agency,
said in Jakarta.
Indonesia is selling assets, including bank stakes, to raise
funds to cover a deficit estimated at Rp 26.3 trillion this year.
Demand for Permata shares may be bolstered by a rally on
Indonesia's stock exchange, where the benchmark index rose to a
record yesterday for the third day and has gained more than 43
percent this year.
Asset sales are also aimed at recouping part of the more than
Rp 450 trillion the country spent to bail out lenders after the
1997 Asian financial crisis.
Shares of Permata will be offered to domestic and
international investors, said Raden Pardede, vice president
director PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset. The 20 percent stake has a
market value of Rp 1.93 trillion.
Standard Chartered, a U.K. lender that makes two-thirds of its
profit in Asia, and Astra International, an Indonesian automobile
distributor, acquired 51 percent of Bank Permata for Rp 2.77
trillion. They paid Rp 703 apiece, or 3.18 times Permata's book
value of Rp 221 as of the end of 2003, and expressed interest in
buying the additional 20 percent as well.
"If they can bid at the best price, we will sell to them,"
said Pardede.
Regina Seow, Standard Chartered spokeswoman in Singapore,
wasn't immediately available to comment.
Earlier this week, the government sold a 16.28 percent stake
in Bank Niaga to investors for Rp 585.8 billion. Niaga is 52.8
percent controlled by Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd., Malaysia's
second largest lender.