IBRA extends bid deadline for Bank Lippo stake
IBRA extends bid deadline for Bank Lippo stake
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A consortium led by Swissfirst Bank AG, the only remaining
bidder in the current sale of the government's majority stake in
Bank Lippo, will have until Jan. 30 to submit its final bid after
the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) extended on
Friday the initial Jan. 26 deadline.
IBRA deputy chairman for bank restructuring I Nyoman Sender
said on Friday that the extension was meant to give the
consortium more time to carry out its due diligence investigation
and eventually increase its bidding price.
He did not mention what steps would be taken if the
consortium, called the Swissassia Global, refused to raise its
offer.
The sale of the Bank Lippo stake, expected to be concluded in
mid-February, was the agency's second attempt to return the bank,
formerly belonging to the Riady family, to private hands. The
first effort failed to generate reasonable offers, the agency
claimed, forcing it to cancel the sale in October last year.
As reported, the consortium offered Rp 403 per share, way
below the Rp 591.5 per share set by IBRA as the minimum price. At
the current price of Rp 525 on the stock market, the sale of a
52 percent stake in the bank should generate more than Rp 1
trillion in proceeds.
The ongoing sale process should provide a test for the agency
as to whether it will maintain its stance regarding a reasonable
price, especially as the agency is now rushing to unload its
remaining assets to meet this year's target of raising Rp 5
trillion in proceeds before its term expires next month.
The agency took over assets from bank owners and failed banks
following the late 1990s financial crisis.
IBRA currently has a 54.9 percent shareholding in Lippo, the
country's 11th-largest bank, while public investors own 35.5
percent. The remaining 9.6 percent is held by Lippo E-Net,
controlled by the Riady family.
Lippo has some Rp 22.5 trillion in assets, with 379 branches
across the country. It has around 6,000 employees.
Aside from the Swissfirst Bank -- a subsidiary of investment
brokerage and private bank Swissfirst AG, other members of the
consortium include Chaffron Ltd. (owned by Austria's Raiffeisen
Zentralbank Osterreich AG), Matrix Asia Holding Ltd., ASM
Investment Ltd. and Ferrell Opportunity Capital Ltd.
Elsewhere, Sender also disclosed that the agency would meet
with the House of Representatives soon to seek approval for the
sale of a controlling stake in Bank Permata.
House consent is not mandatory but is crucial to avoid a
possible backlash in the future.
Over the last three years the government has sold majority
stakes in Bank Danamon, Bank Niaga, Bank Central Asia (BCA) and
Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII).