Malaysian investor pulls out from BCA tender
Malaysian investor pulls out from BCA tender
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Malaysian investor, Malaysian Plantations Bhd., announced
late last week that it had dropped its high-profile bid to
purchase a controlling stake in publicly listed Bank Central Asia
(BCA).
No clear reason was given. Malaysian Plantations, which owns
Alliance Bank, one of the top 10 banks in Malaysia, is one of the
nine investors selected for the final bid for the government's
shares in BCA, Indonesia's largest retail bank.
"We wish to advise that Malaysian Plantations Berhad will not
be proceeding further on the proposed bid for up to 51 percent of
BCA," the company's statement was quoted by Reuters as saying on
Monday.
The Malaysian Plantation Group is seen as one of the
noteworthy foreign investors currently carrying out a due
diligence investigation into the bank.
The withdrawal of the Malaysian investor would be yet another
blow to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency's (IBRA's)
faltering efforts to revive foreign interest in the local
company.
Success with the BCA divestment program is seen as decisive in
helping to strengthen the country's already deteriorating image
before the international business community.
Elsewhere, in a surprising response, IBRA deputy chairman for
bank restructuring Soebowo Musa told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday
that he could not confirm a report saying he had yet to receive
any notification regarding the matter.
"I cannot give any confirmation just yet as I haven't received
such information from our financial advisors. So, as far as I'm
concerned, there are still nine bidders for the BCA tender,"
Soebowo said.
He was referring to the nine investors currently undertaking
due diligence into the bank.
Aside from the Malaysian firm, there are currently eight other
official bidders for the divestment program, with the agency
announcing earlier it had extended its deadline for investors to
submit their final bids to Jan. 28 next year.
The agency said previously it had expected the final bid for
the sale in the third week of December, with the announcement of
the successful buyer to be made the following week.
The other eight bidders are: Farallon Capital, New Bridge
Capital Inc. Consortium, Standard Chartered, Bank Mega
Consortium, Dynamic Choice, Indonesia Recovery Fund Limited,
Korsorsium Berca and Korsorsium Pemegang Saham (shareholder
consortium of) Bank Panin.
The nine investors were shortlisted from 15 bidders that had
been included in preliminary bids to acquire the bank.
The government has been hitting snags in divesting its
remaining 51 percent stake in BCA due either to unfavorable
market conditions or strong resistance from legislators.
In 1998, the government took over the ailing bank and spent
trillions of rupiah on its way to bailing out and nationalizing
BCA at the peak of the regional financial crisis.
The government has banned the bank's founding owner, the Salim
Group, from repurchasing it, based on the fact that it had
violated the legal lending limit regulations when it forced the
bank to channel most of the bailout funds to its affiliated
business firms.