New foreign investors bidding for BCA: Official

JAKARTA (JP): Several new foreign investors are currently in a bidding process to acquire the country's largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA), a government official has said.

Chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Glenn S. Yusuf said on Tuesday that the bidders were not among those who had previously shown an interest in buying a stake in the bank because those people, including the Sultan of Brunei, had backed off.

He declined to name the new investors as negotiations were still continuing.

The decision on who will win the bid is to be made by a joint committee comprising IBRA executives and several senior economic ministers.

Glenn was speaking to reporters after attending a House of Representatives' plenary session to hear the legislators' response to the proposed new banking law.

BCA was one of the four troubled banks nationalized by the government last month after it failed to return Rp 32 trillion (US$2.9 million) of Bank Indonesia's liquidity support it received to help face massive withdrawals in May over worries that the bank might have to be shut down because it was linked to former president Soeharto.

The bank is 70 percent owned by Liem Sioe Liong, and 30 percent by Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana and son Sigit Harjojudanto.

In May it was rumored the Sultan of Brunei was going to buy the stakes held by the Soeharto's children.

BCA's owners have been given until Sept. 21 to return BI's liquidity support or face the confiscation of their personal assets.

Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto said last month that in addition to returning BI's liquidity support, another priority would be to bring down the level of intra-group lending to below 20 percent.

BCA and six other troubled banks (three of which have been suspended) are believed to have allocated 70 percent to 100 percent of their money to affiliated parties, violating the 20 percent legal lending limit.

The Attorney General's Office has started investigating bank managers and owners who are suspected to have committed bank crimes, including breaching the legal lending limit. (rei)