Holdiko secures Rp 11.67 trilion in proceeds this year

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Holdiko Perkasa, a holding company set up by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in 1998 to oversee the sale of the Salim Group assets, has finalized 19 transactions during this year, raising total gross proceeds of Rp 11.67 trillion (around US$1.1 billion).

Holdiko said in a press statement on Tuesday the result had exceeded the target of Rp 7.2 trillion. To date, the company had raised a total of Rp 16.25 trillion from 32 asset sales.

Holdiko said that the average recovery rate of the assets stood at 48.6 percent.

The Salim Group transferred the assets to IBRA to repay debt to the government.

The government injected billions of dollars worth of emergency liquidity support into the group's Bank Central Asia amid massive runs on the bank at the peak of the 1997 financial crisis.

IBRA, which received some Rp 600 trillion worth of assets from indebted bank owners, is mandated to restructure and sell the assets to raise cash for the government. This year the agency is targeted to raise Rp 27 trillion, and its top management has claimed that IBRA is on track to meet the target. Most of the proceeds have come from the sale of Salim Group assets.

Salim Group companies are considered to be the most valuable assets under IBRA's control.

Holdiko said the 2001 proceeds included those coming from the sale of Salim Palm Plantation and Mosquito Coil Group, which were signed in 2000 but not closed until this year.

During this year Holdiko completed the sale of its ownership in First Pacific (batch 3), Indocoal, Indosiar, Indopoly Swakarsa, Kerismas, Yunnan Kunlene, Salim Ringo Containers, Indomarco Prismatama, Gumindo Perkasa, Poli Contindo, Guangdong Jiangmen, Sugar Group, Riau Industrial Estates, Berdikari Sari Utama, Yakult Indonesia, Indomobil and Sulfindo.

Of the 19 sealed transactions, the greatest proceeds came from the sale of Sugar Group, with revenue amounting to Rp 1.2 trillion.