Malaysian investors keen on asset sale: IBRA
Malaysian investors keen on asset sale: IBRA
Dow Jones, Kuala Lumpur
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, Monday said it has received a favorable response from Malaysian investors to the US$5.5 billion worth of assets it is trying to offload.
"I think it's fairly upbeat and I think the good macro- economic indicators in Indonesia... will create a favorable investment climate," IBRA's Vice Chairman Sumantri Slamet told reporters after a preliminary meeting with potential Malaysian investors.
He didn't elaborate.
IBRA officials are in Kuala Lumpur on a two-day roadshow to attract Malaysian buyers to assets including PT Chandra Asri, Texmaco Group, PT Bali Nirwana Resort and Pabrik Gula Rajawali.
The companies are among IBRA's largest debtors and still owe the agency billions of dollars from the time of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
Successful bids should be finalized by the end of the third quarter, Sumantri said.
Chandra Asri is one of Southeast Asia's largest petrochemical companies and one of two propylene producers in Indonesia while Texmaco is a conglomerate with interests in textiles and engineering industries.
Bali Nirwana is the owner of a five-star hotel and golf resort on the holiday island of Bali while Pabrik Gula is a major sugar mill and plantation located in Sulawesi on the island of Borneo.
Other assets for sale are stakes in Indonesia's Lippo Bank and Bank International Indonesia.
Local investment bank Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd., or CIMB, and JPMorgan are assisting IBRA with its asset disposal program and roadshow in Malaysia.
"We've had a fruitful discussion with Malaysian companies," Nasir Razak, CIMB's chief executive said.
Among the participants at the discussion were Telekom Malaysia Bhd. and banking group Commerce Asset Holding Bhd., which bought a 51 percent stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Niaga in November.
But banking sources said Commerce Asset, which controls Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd., the second largest bank in the country, has no current plans to expand its interest in Indonesia.
The IBRA roadshow, which began last week in the U.S., will move to Singapore Wednesday and Thursday and to Japan and South Korea at the end of this month.
Another Malaysian company that has participated in IBRA's asset sale program is plantation group Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd. which in March 2001 bought 25 oil palm estates formerly owned by the Indonesia's troubled Salim Group for $368 million. Guthrie has named the estates Minamas Plantations.
Earlier Monday, Bisnis Indonesia reported the country's central bank has given its approval to a consortium comprising Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Germany's Deutsche Bank AG to buy a 51 percent stake in PT Bank Danamon Indonesia.
In April IBRA decided to sell the stake in Bank Danamon to the consortium for about $347 million.