Inghie Kwik denies selling state assets at PT HTP

Inghie Kwik denies selling state assets at PT HTP

JAKARTA (JP): Inghie Kwik, a son of Coordinating Minister for
Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie, denied on Thursday
being involved in the sale of state assets to Hutchison Port
Holdings, as implied by Minister of Investment and State
Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi on Wednesday.

Laksamana said Inghie could not be involved in the sale of PT
Humpuss Terminal Petikemas (HTP), which operates a container
terminal at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port, as the company was
among the thousands of debtor companies under the management of
the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.

The minister asserted that therefore only IBRA had the right
to sell HTP.

Inghie, a director of Asset Management Group of Indonesia
argued, however, that HTP was not owned by IBRA but had had its
debts taken over by IBRA. He said that the agency therefore only
acted as creditor and not the owner of HTP.

"The right to sell HTP remains in the hands of its majority
owners, publicly listed PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi and
other minority shareholders," Inghie asserted.

Humpus Intermoda is controlled by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto.

He also denied his company, Asset Management Group of
Indonesia, was acting as broker in negotiations for the sale of
HTP to Hutchison Port Holdings, a public company in Hong Kong
which operates 17 container terminals around the world.

"The Asset Management Group of Indonesia is acting as a
consultant, not a broker, for Hutchison in the process of
acquiring HTP majority shares from Humpuss Intermoda," Inghie
said.

He said his company in January officially briefed Laksamana on
Hutchison's plan to acquire HTP and on the role of Asset
Management Group of Indonesia as a consultant in the proposed
transaction.

Hutchison reportedly is interested in acquiring Humpuss
Intermoda's controlling shares in HTP at a price of US$145
million.

He said HTP sales to Hutchison would not only increase foreign
investment in Indonesia but would also contribute to improving
container port management in the country.

Separately, IBRA executive Eko Santoso Budianto said on
Thursday that any talks concerning the sale of Humpuss
Intermoda's stake in HTP were taking place between prospective
buyers and the management of the company, not with IBRA, arguing
that allegations that the younger Kwik was involved in selling
off state assets were baseless.

"We deal with the borrower; the owner of Humpuss Terminal
Petikemas can change, but the borrower remains the same," Eko was
quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying.

Eko added that IBRA as a creditor was aware of the talks
between Hutchison and Humpuss.

IBRA, which manages over Rp 220 trillion (US$29.7 billion) in
bad loans taken over from state banks and banks closed down or
taken over by the government, has been hit with nationalistic
opposition to selling assets to foreign investors.

"Many people complain that IBRA is too slow in performing its
tasks, but this is the kind of thing that slows us down," Eko
added.