Lippo case not to dent revenue target: IBRA
Lippo case not to dent revenue target: IBRA
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) remains upbeat
about meeting its full-year revenue target as stated in the 2003
state budget, despite missing out on potential proceeds from the
sale of its stake in Bank Lippo after the postponing divestment
of the stake until next year.
"We will be trying hard to contribute to the state coffers as
targeted by the state budget. We still have around two months to
meet the target," IBRA chairman Syafruddin Temenggung said on
Friday.
Under the state budget, the agency has to collect Rp 26
trillion (US$3.06 billion) in revenue to help finance the state
budget deficit, which is expected to be around Rp 34.4 trillion.
Some Rp 21.3 trillion of the target should come in the form of
cash, while the remainder in the form of government bonds
redeemed from the banking sector.
Syafruddin said that so far, some Rp 17 trillion had been
channeled to the government, with Rp 14 trillion of it being in
cash and the rest in bonds.
He did not elaborate from what sources the agency would make
up the shortfall of Rp 9 trillion.
On Thursday, IBRA had to postpone the sale of a 52 percent
stake in publicly listed Bank Lippo as the bidding prices offered
by three potential buyers were all too low.
This has prompted concerns over the agency's ability to
collect the targeted revenue in time. Proceeds from the Lippo
sale should have been above Rp 1 trillion.
According to IBRA, the postponement was unavoidable as the
prices submitted by the three shortlisted consortia were below
the rebid price range target of between Rp 384 and Rp 591 per
share, determined earlier by the agency.
The rebid price range was set by IBRA after the three
consortia, in their preliminary bids, submitted bidding prices
that were lower than the floor price of Rp 591 per share.
The government gave no official reason as to why the bidding
prices were so low, but State Minister of State Enterprises
Laksamana Sukardi suspected that the bank's former shareholders
might have had something to do with it.
"Potential investors probably feel uncomfortable with the
presence of the old shareholders. But I still haven't received
the full reports," Laksamana said.
The agency holds a 54.9 percent stake in the bank, with the
rest owned by the public (35.5 percent) and Lippo E-Net (9.6
percent).
The latter represents the bank's former owner, the Riyadi
family.
"But still, if the price is not right, we're obviously not
going to sell," Laksamana added.
On Friday, the first day after the postponement, market
players in the Jakarta Stock Exchange dumped Lippo shares. The
bank closed the day at Rp 475 per share, a 17 percent drop from
the closing of Rp 575 on Thursday.