IBRA won't allow Salim to repurchase BCA: Ary Suta
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) stressed on Wednesday it would stick to existing regulations in executing the divestment program of the publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA), including one that bars founding owner Salim Group from reentering the bank.
The agency's chief I Putu Gede Ary Suta said that the regulations set out by the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which groups senior economic ministers, would be upheld.
"The requirements are clear. The bidders must not have any connection with the Salim Group. That's our guideline," Ary told reporters.
"Breaking that regulation would violate the rules of the game," he added.
IBRA said earlier that any sales of assets under the agency would be annulled if there were indications that Salim Group was involved in the transaction.
As for reports stating that Salim had forced the Malaysian Plantation Bhd -- one of the nine bidders for the bank -- to back out, Ary Suta said he could not confirm that, as the agency had not received official notification regarding the withdrawal.
"We have not received any information on that. If they plan to back out, they should notify us first."
As reported earlier, the Malaysian investor had dropped its bid to purchase a controlling stake in the country's largest retail bank for reasons that were unclear.
However, a number of local newspapers quoted Setiawan Djodi as saying that Salim Group had put a lot of pressure on Malaysian Plantation Bhd to withdraw from the bid.
Setiawan Djodi is the owner of Setco Group, the Malaysian Plantation Group's partner in the BCA tender.
The group was one of the nine strategic partners selected to undergo due diligence, with the investors expected to submit their final bid before the Jan. 28 deadline.
The withdrawal of such a noteworthy investor, which owns the Alliance Bank -- one of the top ten banks in Malaysia -- would be another slap in the face for the agency, which has been struggling to restore foreign investor' confidence in domestic firms.
However, Ary Suta downplayed such concerns, arguing that Malaysian Plantation was just one out of six foreign companies.
"It's only one company. We should not be concerned if they pull out of the tender. It won't have any significant impact," he said.
The agency took over BCA in 1998 after the government spent trillions of rupiah to bail out the bank in the height of financial crisis.
Salim Group has since been barred from reentering BCA until it settles the huge debts it owes the government.
But, even the governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) has admitted that it was difficult to track down Salim's presence in new companies, especially when it uses a nominee.
The other eight bidders are: Farallon Capital, the Newbridge Capital Inc. consortium, Standard Chartered, Bank Mega consortium, Dynamic Choice, Indonesia Recovery Fund Limited, Berca consortium and a consortium of Bank Panin's shareholders.
The nine investors were short-listed from 15 bidders that had joined the preliminary bids to acquire the bank.