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.