Indofood drops plan to buy oil palm plantations
Indofood drops plan to buy oil palm plantations
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Indofood Sukses Makmur has
dropped a plan to acquire several oil palm plantations under the
control of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
Indofood's president Eva Riyanti Hutapea said on Thursday that
the company, which submitted a non-binding bid to IBRA on Oct. 16
and was shortlisted with six other bidders, would not join the
final bid process.
Eva said Indofood was the only national strategic investor
operating under the domestic investment law (PMDN) and it was
prepared to compete fairly with all the other bidders.
"But there is an objection from the government which connected
Indofood's planned acquisition with MSAA issues," he said in a
reference to the Master of Settlement and Acquisition Agreement
or MSAA signed by the Salim Group with IBRA, a part of the
finance ministry.
The government is seeking to revise the MSAA with the Salim
Group to allow it to acquire more assets to ensure a full payment
for the business group's debts.
The Salim Group, which owns a 48 percent stake in Indofood
through the Hong Kong-based First Pacific, has been under fire
after it repurchased the Singapore-based QAF Pte. Ltd.'s shares
from IBRA recently.
QAF's shares were among the assets surrendered by the business
group in payment of its debts.
Eva said that under IBRA's revised timetable for the bidding
of the oil palm plantation companies, all bidders including
Indofood had to submit their final/binding bid on Nov.23.
"With the very limited time frame set up by IBRA and as a
listed company, Indofood would have difficulties in complying
with prevailing Bapepam (Capital Market Supervisory Board) rules
and regulations related to the planned acquisition," she said.
"The prevailing Bapepam rules include the need to present the
anticipated impact of the planned acquisition to Indofood's
financial performance," she noted.
"There were also constraints faced by professional consultants
to issue fair and independent opinions due to the limited data
and information provided by IBRA during the due diligence,"
Riyanti Hutapea said. (hen)