IBRA chief Cacuk confident of meeting sales target
IBRA chief Cacuk confident of meeting sales target
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): The new chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency said Monday he's confident of selling enough assets by the end of March to meet its target for the current budget.
In an interview with CNBC Asia, Cacuk Sudarijanto also said he didn't plan to come up with a new strategy to push through sales at IBRA, pledging instead to continue the approach of the agency's first chairman, Glenn Yusuf.
"I prefer to continue (Glenn's) strategy, what he already did, especially (as regards) staffing, prioritizing and the disposal program," Cacuk told the television station.
"We have a budget target to submit to the government the required amount of Rp 17 trillion (US$2.4 billion) by the end of the month," he continued.
IBRA has been tasked with raising Rp 16.2 trillion for the nine-month 2000 state budget beginning in April.
The new chairman said IBRA was determined to "speed up results" and make the agency's work more effective and transparent.
Cacuk was appointed to the influential role of IBRA chairman earlier in January, ending months of speculation about the future of Glenn, whose position was weakened by the Bank Bali corruption scandal.
As a close confidante of President Abdurrahman Wahid, Cacuk has pledged to push through the sale of a stake in auto maker PT Astra International and list a chunk of Bank Central Asia on the market by the end of the current fiscal year, ending March 31.
IBRA is tasked with raising Rp 17 trillion for the budget, but so far hasn't even raised half that.
Cacuk said he's confident that IBRA can close the Astra sale by the end of March.
The sale has run into difficulties as Astra management has questioned the procedures and manners in which the agency has moved to sell its 40 percent stake to an investor consortium led by Newbridge Capital Inc. of the U.S.
In response to opposition from Astra, IBRA has tabled a motion for an emergency Astra shareholders meeting on Feb. 8 to replace some of the management.
Pushing through the Astra sale in a transparent manner is key to reviving international confidence in IBRA and to closing further sales, analysts say.
The 2000 budget, released last week, has charged the agency with raising Rp 16.25 trillion in asset sales in the period from April 1 to Dec. 31, to help finance bank recapitalization.
Many analysts reckon the target is far too optimistic, given the likelihood that IBRA will have to sell assets at a significant discount.