IBRA to sell more Salim Group assets

IBRA to sell more Salim Group assets

JAKARTA (JP): The powerful Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency (IBRA) said on Thursday it would sell four more assets
pledged by the giant Salim Group to the agency by the end of the
year.

The companies are wheat flour mill PT Berdikari Sari Utama
Flour Mills, distribution company PT Indomarco Adi Prima,
gift/souvenir maker PT Indogift Chuencher Indah, and an edible
oil and fat manufacturing group of companies.

"With the launch of these four assets and the eight assets
recently launched, plus the sale of ownership in PT Sulfindo
which we expect to announce in the next two weeks, Holdiko
expects to conclude an additional 13 more asset sales in 2001,"
Scott Coffey, a director of Holdiko, said in a statement.

PT Holdiko Perkasa is a holding company set up by IBRA to
manage the various ex-Salim Group assets.

"Although we only have three more working months before the
year end, we are optimistic that we will reach our target as set
by IBRA for this year," he said.

IBRA controls billions of dollars worth of assets transferred
by former bank owners to repay their debts to the government, and
from closed down or ailing banks.

The agency is mandated to raise cash to help plug the state
budget deficit by selling the assets. IBRA is targeted to raise
Rp 27 trillion (US$3.05 billion) this year, but so far has raised
less than Rp 12 trillion.

Elsewhere, IBRA said that it would sell its entire 64 percent
stake in Berdikari Sari Utama Flour which has a 840.000 metric
ton per year production capacity.

The agency said it would also sell a 20.16 percent stake in
Indomarco Adi Prima, its 50 percent stake in Indogift Chuenher
Indah as well 20 percent in each of the edible oil and fat group
of companies PT Inti Boga Sejahtera, PT Salim Oil Grains and PT
Bitung Menado Oil.

Coffey, however, did not say how much was expected from the
sales.

The Salim Group, run by one of the nation's most powerful
business families, transferred ownership in more than 100
operating companies to Holdiko to repay loans owed by the group's
Bank Central Asia.

The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly criticized IBRA
for the slow progress in the asset sale program.

IBRA does not allow the former owners of pledged assets to buy
back the assets.(11)