Low bids may lead IBRA to alter Bank Niaga sale strategy
Low bids may lead IBRA to alter Bank Niaga sale strategy
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) is mulling over
other ways to divest the government's 51 percent stake in
publicly listed Bank Niaga if the current plan to sell the stake
to strategic investors fails to generate attractive bids.
IBRA Chairman Syafruddin Temenggung said on Wednesday that the
alternative ways included selling the stake via a secondary
offering, or private placement.
However, he said that the alternatives would only be decided
once the shortlisted bidders had submitted their final bids by
the May 27 deadline.
IBRA said it wanted to sell the Bank Niaga stake at a price no
less than 10 percent below the market price by the May 27 final
bid deadline.
IBRA, which controls the government's 97.15 percent stake in
the medium-sized bank, wants to complete the divestment program
next month. The sale will raise cash to help finance the state
budget deficit. The program is also part of the country's bank
restructuring program agreed with the International Monetary
Fund.
The agency has shortlisted four bidders for the Bank Niaga
stake including consortia led respectively by Australia's ANZ
Bank, Malaysia's Commerce Asset Holding Bhd, Batavia Investment
Management Ltd., and Bank Victoria International.
Reports on Monday, however, said that preliminary bids
submitted by the bidders were only Rp 15 per share to Rp 25 per
share, much lower than the Monday closing price of Rp 80.
The low bids prompted IBRA deputy chairman I Nyoman Sender to
threaten to cancel the sale program if bids by the final deadline
remained very low.
The IMF, however, warned the government not to delay the sale
program.
The Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which groups
senior economic ministers and has the final say on the country's
major bank restructuring program, later said that the divestment
program would go ahead as scheduled.
News about the low bids has caused the price of Bank Niaga
shares to go down. On Wednesday, Bank Niaga was quoted lower at
Rp 65.