IBRA begins selling off Danamon

IBRA begins selling off Danamon

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) started on Friday selling Bank Danamon shares on the stock market, a move which marked the first phase of the bank's divestment process.

Under the agreement with the House of Representatives, IBRA will sell up to 20 percent of the stake in the bank on the stock market first, before selling a controlling 51 percent stake to strategic investors.

IBRA has said that the first stage was primarily aimed at testing the market interests, as well as obtaining a benchmark price for the subsequent sale of a majority stake to strategic investors.

IBRA becomes the majority owner of the bank after bailing it out in the wake of the late 1990s banking crisis. It now controls 99.4 percent stake in the bank in return for around Rp 47 trillion worth of the bail-out funds.

The public holds the rest. -- JP