IBRA to offer Permata in February

IBRA to offer Permata in February

JAKARTA: State-run Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, hopes to offer a 70 percent stake in medium-sized PT Bank Permata in early February.

The agency will offer the stake to strategic investors via a bidding process, IBRA Chairman Syafruddin Temenggung told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday.

Syafruddin said he expects the sale will be completed before the agency's planned closure by the end of next month.

He didn't provide further details, such as how much he expects IBRA will raise from the stake sale.

Bank Permata was created in September 2002 via a merger of five banks, including the listed PT Bank Bali. The government owns a 97.17 percent stake in the bank, while public investors hold the remaining share. After the planned 70 percent stake sale, the government will be left with a 27.17 percent stake.

IBRA, which was established by the government in 1998 to clean up the local banking system, is racing against the time to sell its assets as it will be dissolved by the end of February. -- Dow Jones