Heidelberger to buy Indocement shares: IBRA

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)