Jamsostek reveals Permata plan

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

State pension fund PT Jamsostek said it will only hold Bank Permata shares for between three and five years if it wins the upcoming tender for a controlling stake in the country's seventh largest lender.

Jamsostek investment director Samuel Tobing said on Wednesday the company was seeking a medium-term investment horizon in Permata, as this was deemed more feasible than holding the shares over the long term as the company needed a quick return on its investment.

"We'll probably sell the stake after between three and five years. But we haven't decided to whom the shares would be sold," Samuel said.

Jamsostek is among the leading bidders for the Permata stake. The pension firm intends to form a consortium to realize its acquisition plan.

Samuel said the company had just sealed a deal with a foreign- based bank to set up the consortium, and was currently in negotiation to ink a similar agreement with another bank.

He declined to name the banks.

However, a source in the company said the bank which had agreed to team up with Jamsostek was the Maybank Group, Malaysia's largest banking conglomerate. Maybank is likely to lead the consortium.

The government, which has a 97.17 percent stake in publicly listed Permata, plans to sell 51 percent of its stake later this year to strategic investors and another 19 percent to the investing public in a bid raise cash to help finance the state budget deficit.

The shares are currently controlled by the Ministry of Finance's asset management firm, PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA).

Samuel said the company would allocate between Rp 400 billion (US$44.4 million) and Rp 800 billion for the purchase of the Permata stake. This was equal to between 13 percent and 16 percent of the Permata stake as the price for the 51 percent stake is worth about Rp 1.5 trillion.

The PPA is giving until the end of this month for would-be bidders to formally submit their expressions of interest.

Regarding the company's plan to team up with the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), the country's fourth largest bank in terms of assets, Samuel said the company was likely to cancel the plan.

He explained that BRI was still having difficulties in coping with the central bank regulation that limits the size of a bank's investment in a single entity to not more than 10 percent of its net equity.

Eyebox

Mandiri, Buana form consortium

Bank Mandiri and Bank Buana, the country's largest and 11th largest banks in terms of assets, announced on Wednesday that they had sealed an agreement to form a consortium to bid for a controlling stake in Bank Permata.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday, Mandiri said it would lead the consortium, and had submitted an application for qualification to asset management firm PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA).

The consortium will also include Mandiri Securities and PT Sari Dasa Karsa, which has a 43.45 percent stake in Buana. -- JP