Heidelberger to buy Indocement shares: IBRA

JAKARTA (JP): German cementmaker Heidelberger Zement AG has agreed to purchase the government's interest in publicly listed PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa at Rp 1,900 per share, an official at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said on Friday.

IBRA asset management investment director Dasa Sutantio, however, declined to say how large a stake the German company would acquire.

"Rp 1,900 is the share price agreed to by Heidelberger. We're close to reaching a deal, but we can't disclose any more details right now," Dasa said.

But a source at the finance ministry said a memorandum of understanding has been signed with Heidelberger, which will buy the government's 45 percent interest in Indocement in several stages, with an initial purchase of an approximately 20 percent stake.

IBRA, a unit of the finance ministry, owns a 20 percent stake in Indocement. The government, via the finance ministry, owns an additional 25 percent stake in the country's second largest cementmaker, which has an annual production capacity of more than 15 million tons. The government took a 25 percent stake in the company when it made the controversial move of bailing out Indocement several years ago.

Indocement shares rose 3.1 percent to Rp 1,650 on the Jakarta Stock Exchange following the news.

The Salim Group, previously the country's largest conglomerate, handed over its 20 percent stake in Indocement to IBRA to help repay the debt of the group's Bank Central Asia (BCA) to the government. Salim transferred ownership in around 100 companies to IBRA as part of its debt repayment.

The source at the finance ministry said Heidelberger also agreed to leave Salim out of its plan to purchase the Indocement stake. Initially, the German company was to join forces with Salim to acquire the Indocement shares and become a majority shareholder.

There have been calls for the government to prevent former bank owners from repurchasing the assets they handed over to IBRA to pay their debts.

The deal with Heidelberger is part of the restructuring of Indocement's massive US$1.1 billion debt.

Salim still owns a 40 percent stake in the company, but this has been pledged as collateral for $200 million in exchangeable bonds due in February, according to reports.

Heidelberger reportedly will redeem the bonds and the underlying stake through a rights issue to be launched by Indocement in the first quarter of this year.

This would allow the German company to become the majority shareholder in Indocement, while reducing Indocement's debt to around $900 million.

Indomarco

Elsewhere, Dasa said IBRA would sell Salim's retailing unit PT Indomarco Prismatama to strategic investors through an open tender rather than through an initial public offering.

He said the agency would begin the bidding next week, adding that the process was expected to be completed within one to one- and-a-half months.

Earlier, local cigarettemaker PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna offered a premium price for a 51 percent stake in Indomarco.

But because of rumors that Sampoerna was making the transaction on behalf of Salim, the government decided to reject the offer.

Indomarco is one of the companies of the Salim Group to be sold this year to help IBRA raise about Rp 27 trillion in cash. This money will help finance the current state budget deficit.

The other Salim companies to be sold include condensed milk producer PT Indomilk, coal mining firm PT Indo Coal and automaker PT Indomobil. (rei)