IBRA starts selling Niaga shares through market
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has asked PT Trimegah Securities to gradually start selling the agency's shares in the publicly-listed Bank Niaga via the stock market.
"We asked Trimegah Friday to start the sale, in limited volume," IBRA deputy chairman for bank restructuring unit I Nyoman Sender told reporters Monday.
IBRA has planned to sell up to a 20 percent stake in Bank Niaga via the stock market in a bid to test investors' appetites and seek a price benchmark for the sale of another 51 percent stake to strategic investors.
The agency has appointed Trimegah as its chief financial adviser for the secondary offering.
Sender fell short of saying how many percent of the shares were to be sold to the market at this stage, saying that he had to make calculations first.
IBRA had initially planned to sell a 51 percent stake in the mid-sized bank to strategic investors but the sale was canceled last month because the only two bidders, consortia led by Australia's ANZ Banking Group and Commerce-Assets Holding Bhd., offered low prices.
The Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which groups several senior economics ministers and has the final say on the agency's major asset sale program, then ordered IBRA to seek other divestment mechanisms to obtain greater proceeds.
IBRA controls more than a 97 percent stake in Bank Niaga after the government bailed out and recapitalized the bank in the late 1990s, while the public holds the remaining stake.
Sender reaffirmed IBRA's stance that the secondary offering mechanism was merely aimed at testing the market price, and if the price tends to go down below the floor price, the agency would stop the mechanism.
"That's why we'll keep a close eye on the daily movement of the shares," he said.
On Monday, Niaga shares closed at Rp 45. By comparison, the shares were valued at Rp 70 when the initial strategic sale plan was canceled.
In a related development, the appointment of Trimegah could create new controversy as the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) last month said the company was involved in the Indomobil scandal and barred it from having business relationships with IBRA for a certain period.
However, M. Nawir Messi, KPPU director executive, refused to comment, saying that the commission would issue official statements later regarding the matter.
The Niaga sale process, scheduled to be completed by mid- September, is part of the agency's divestment plan for this year, in a bid to generate proceeds to help finance this year's state budget deficit, projected at more than Rp 42 trillion.
Aside from Niaga, the government would also launch the majority stake in Bank Danamon by the end of this month, or early August at the latest with the sale of shares in Bank Lippo next on the list.
IBRA has been targeted to raise more than Rp 35 trillion in cash in 2002.