Indomobil sold without FSPC approval

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.