IBRA to wrap up Lippo sale next week

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) expects to finalize soon the auction of a 52 percent stake in Bank Lippo by signing a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Swissasia Global consortium, as the winning bidder.

"We hope to sign the agreement next week," IBRA spokesman Rohan Hafaz was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on Thursday.

If the plan materializes, it will mark the first sale of an Indonesian bank this year by IBRA, which is rushing to collect as many proceeds from its asset sale program as possible, before its term expires on Feb. 27.

It would also quash earlier doubts that Lippo, the country's 11th-largest lender, would be unable to attract credible investors at the right price.

The current process is the agency's second attempt to return the bank, formerly owned by the Riady family, to private hands. The first attempt last year failed to generate respectable bids, the agency claimed, which led to the cancellation of the sale.

IBRA has a 54.9 percent shareholding in Lippo, while public investors own 35.5 percent. The remaining 9.6 percent is held by Lippo E-Net, controlled by the Riady family.

Swissasia Global offered Rp 1.2 trillion (US$142 million) to acquire Lippo, which has some Rp 22.5 trillion in assets and employs about 6,000 workers in 379 branches across the country.

According to an IBRA statement, the consortium groups together Swissfirst Bank AG, Chaffron Ltd., Matrix Asia Holding Ltd., ASM Investment Ltd. and Ferrell Opportunity Capital Ltd.

Swissfirst is a subsidiary of investment brokerage and private bank Swissfirst AG, Chaffron Ltd. is owned by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG -- Austria's fourth-largest lender.

Over the last three years IBRA has sold majority stakes in Bank Danamon, Bank Niaga, Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII).

In the pipeline for this year is Bank Permata. IBRA is also planning to sell a minority stake in a number of other banks.