Pelindo II gets preferred bidder
Pelindo II gets preferred bidder
JAKARTA (JP): The government named on Wednesday Grosbeak Pte
Ltd, a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, the preferred
bidder for a 49 percent to 51 percent stake in PT Jakarta
International Container Terminal (JICT), a unit of state-owned
port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II.
The Office of the State Minister of the Empowerment of State
Enterprises announced that the government had received four final
bids for the stake, from Grosbeak, International Container
Terminal Services Inc of the Philippines, P&O Ports of Australia
and Stevedoring Services of America International/PT Samudera
Indonesia.
"The four bids from the potential investors have been
evaluated and based on the bids submitted, Grosbeak Pte Ltd has
been selected as the preferred bidder by the privatization
Evaluation Committee," said Sofyan A. Djalil, an assistant to the
state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises.
He did not disclose financial details of the transaction.
Denmark's AP Moller Group, which operates Maersk Lines, and
Taiwan's Peony Investment S.A., a unit of the Evergreen Group,
initially showed interest in the stake but did not place final
bids.
Sofyan said the government would start negotiations with
Grosbeak as the preferred bidder to finalize the transaction.
He said negotiations should be finalized by the end of this
month so that financial closure of the transaction could be
reached by the end of March, the end of the current 1998/1999
fiscal year.
State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri
Abeng commented: "The completion of this transaction with
Hutchison Whampoa, a world leader in the container terminal
operator industry, is expected to serve as a threshold towards
Indonesia's economic recovery."
Hutchison Whampoa is the world's largest container port
operator, handling over 10 percent of the world's containers
through its 18 ports in Europe, Asia and America.
If Hutchison Whampoa's Grosbeak wins the bid, it will operate
container terminals I and II with a total capacity of 1.5 million
20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at the country's busiest port,
Jakarta's Tanjung Priok, through JICT.
JICT is a profitable center for PT Pelindo II. It accounted
for 50 percent of Pelindo II's Rp 200 billion (US$23 million at
the current exchange rate) profit in 1997.
Pelindo II president Herman Prayitno said that the entrance of
Grosbeak marked "the beginning of significant value addition to
the business of Pelindo II because the investor is expected to
develop JICT into a world-class container terminal operator."
Grosbeak, if it wins the bid, is expected to help boost the
capacity of the two container terminals under JICT to 2.7 million
TEUs to compete with the popular Singapore port.
Pelindo is one of five state firms to be privatized by the
government by the end of this fiscal year, to raise about $1
billion in fresh funds. The government initially planned to raise
$1.5 billion by selling stakes in 12 state firms during this
fiscal year, but scaled the number down to six due to the
economic crisis and bearish market sentiment.
The government has so far only sold a 14 percent share in
cementmaker PT Semen Gresik to Mexico's Cemex SA for $1.38
percent per share, raising $121.5 million. (rid)