IBRA submits documents for screening BCA bidders to BI
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Indonesia said it had received from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) related documents required to complete the assessment process for the four bidders vying for a 51 percent stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA).
However, the central bank said it would also need one or two more days to determine whether or not the submitted data was complete.
"IBRA has submitted those documents to us. We are now checking whether they have been completed properly," BI spokesman Halim Alamsyah said on Tuesday.
The central bank and IBRA had earlier set a Monday deadline for all the bidders to submit the required documents.
The final four bidders are led by U.K.-based Standard Chartered Plc., U.S. investment company Farallon, PT Bank Mega, and GKBI Investments. They are competing to buy the government's 51 percent stake in BCA, the country's largest retail bank.
Meanwhile, in a release issued on Tuesday, StanChart said that it had submitted all the data required for the test before the deadline.
Ray Ferguson, the bank's chief executive said: "BI also has in its possession the Standard Chartered Bank signed letter of comfort."
The letter of comfort refers to the consortium's willingness to guarantee to inject funds should the bank endure liquidity problems.
Without underestimating Bank Mega and GKBI, which are locally- led bidders, StanChart and Farallon seem to be the clear favorites to win the bid.
Now that all the would-be investors have met the deadline for the documents, BI now has 30 days to complete its fit and proper tests on each of them. BI Governor Sjahril Sabirin has however, repeatedly expressed optimism that the whole process could be finalized in less than 30 days.
With IBRA saying it would need around two weeks to determine the winner after the BI-administered test, the closely-watched BCA auction should then be finalized by the end of March.
After almost two years of failed efforts, the sale will be seen as crucial in regaining confidence from international investors.
Investors have put the country off their radar, mostly due to the government's poor commitments in honoring contracts with foreign investors.
The fit and proper test, which also includes a series of 'administrative' screenings and interviews, was designed -- among other things -- to prevent the bank's founder, the Salim Group from reentering BCA.
All the bidders are required to sign a statement stipulating that they have no links with the Salim Group or its affiliates whatsoever.
The government banned Salim from regaining control of the bank.
Under Salim's ownership, most of BCA's loans had been channeled to business affiliates, thus violating the legal lending limit requirement. The government had to inject massive amounts of bonds to bailout the bank in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis.
The other objective of the test should be to ensure that none of the investors are on the blacklist for bad bankers with Bank Indonesia.
Since the government prohibits investors from using domestic loans, the fit-and-proper test would also require them to reveal their funding sources which they intend to use to acquire the bank.