IBRA expects to recover $682m from debtors by December
IBRA expects to recover $682m from debtors by December
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said Thursday it expects to receive Rp 6 trillion (US$682 million) from bad debtors by year-end.
This would enable IBRA to meet its revised full-year revenue target of Rp 42.8 trillion.
The agency has so far transferred Rp 16.5 trillion to the government and has raised another Rp 23.1 trillion through the sale of non-performing loans.
IBRA head Syafruddin Temenggung told reporters it "would not be too difficult" to get another three to Rp 4 trillion of the total six trillion targeted from big shareholders, including Anthony Salim and Sjamsul Nursalim.
Nursalim of the Gajah Tunggal Group -- which owes IBRA Rp 28 trillion -- has been ordered to pay it Rp 1 trillion by October or face legal action.
The Salim group -- which owes IBRA Rp 53.2 trillion -- has been ordered to pay Rp 730 billion.
They were originally told to pay in cash. But Temenggung told AFX-Asia, an AFP-owned financial newswire, that they would be allowed to pay part of the total in "near-cash" -- shares in listed assets.
Temenggung said IBRA was pushing ahead with efforts to crack down on debtors who are not honoring 1998 agreements with the agency, under which it took over non-performing loans as part of an industry-wide bailout of the banking sector amid the Asian financial crisis.
He said the government has asked IBRA to complete the transfer of assets pledged by these debtors, which IBRA will then sell to cover the non-performing loans.
Temenggung said that once Salim and Nursalim meet their obligations, IBRA will turn its attention to Bob Hasan, another former bank owner currently serving a prison term for an unrelated corruption offense.
The IBRA chief also said the agency would seek parliamentary approval next week to sell up to 71 percent of Bank Danamon.
The sale structure would be similar to that currently under way for Bank Niaga -- a 51 percent stake to a strategic investor and up to 20 percent on the market in a bid to increase the stock's liquidity.
IBRA on Wednesday said it has received letters from five investors expressing interest in bidding for Bank Danamon, the largest bank left on the agency's asset sheet after the sale of Bank Central Asia earlier this year.