Indomobil sold without FSPC approval
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) might have violated its own ruling by selling PT Indomobil Sukses International without the consent of the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), according to sources familiar with the process.
FSPC groups together senior economic ministers and is in charge of any IBRA transactions worth more than Rp 1 trillion.
A document The Jakarta Post obtained revealed that Indomobil was worth Rp 2.14 trillion (about US$205 million) when IBRA took over the company, making its sale subject to FSPC approval.
Former deputy chairman for IBRA's Asset Management Credit (AMC) unit Irwan Siregar in his memo to senior IBRA officials late last year, was reported to have asked IBRA to secure FSPC's approval.
According to a source familiar with Indomobil's sale, IBRA did not follow up on that memo.
IBRA's asset disposal head, Dasa Sutantio denied Indomobil was sold without FSPC approval, but he gave no further details.
The sale of Indomobil has been shrouded with controversy due to suspicions that its former owner the Salim Group, might have regained control of the company.
Salim surrendered Indomobil as part of a debt settlement program with IBRA. The government has injected the group's Bank Central Asia (BCA) with billions of U.S. dollars in liquidity support loans.
Until Salim repays its debts, it cannot buy back its assets.
Last December, Indomobil was sold within a month for just Rp 625 million to a consortium led by PT Trimegah Securities.
The sale drew criticism from analysts, who questioned the immediate sale, its low price, and the identity of its purchasers.
IBRA's argued that it received orders from the government to raise funds to cushion the state budget deficit.
As time was short, IBRA decided to sell Indomobil through what it called a one-tier sale process.
That gave bidders just one month from the launching of the sale on Nov. 20 to the closing of the deal on Dec. 21.
The one-tier process denied bidders due diligence on Indomobil, replacing it with only a six-day verification period.
With $100 million in unrestructured debt, and a negative capital of Rp 400 billion, Indomobil attracted only three final bidders.
But as in the sale of Salim's television company PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri, the new owner of Indomobil is almost unknown to the public.
It is PT Cipta Sarana Duta Perkasa, which is 80 percent owned by PT Eka Surya Indah Pratama, and 20 percent owned PT Multi Megah Internasional.
Such outcomes have been sustaining analysts' suspicions that Salim is using nominees to regain control of its former assets.
Trimegah, which led Indomobil's consortium, was also the financial advisor for Indosiar's sale, the new owner of which is another unknown company, PT TDM Asset Management.
IBRA's financial advisor on Indomobil is a consultant firm Deloitte & Touche, the same firm which is advising IBRA on the sale of Salim's BCA. Trimegah is one of BCA's bidders.
The only thing that stands between Salim and its assets is a statement bidders must sign to confirm that they are not affiliated with the Salim group.