PPA plans to sell Bank Permata in October
Rendi A. Witular The Jakarta Post Jakarta
PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA), a new entity that has been established under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance for the purpose of administering banking assets transferred from the now-defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), plans to resume the sale of the government's 71 percent stake in Bank Permata in October.
PPA president Muhammad Syahrial said the PPA was expected to complete the review of its overall business plan in September, to be followed by the sale of various assets under its management.
"We plan to start executing our programs starting in September or October, including the sale of the government's stake in Bank Permata," said Syahrial during a press conference on Thursday.
The government plans to off-load a 51 percent stake in Bank Permata through a strategic sale, with an additional 20 percent to be sold via block sale and drip sale mechanisms on the stock market.
Bank Permata resulted from the merger of five troubled banks rescued by the government in the wake of the late 1990s financial crisis.
The government, which currently holds a 97.2 percent stake in the bank, has been trying to sell the bank over the past year but faced obstacles in completing the program.
The main problem is an ongoing legal dispute over a huge amount of funds held by the bank.
Syahrial said that PPA would wait for the legal dispute to be resolved first before selling the stake.
He also said that the company would seek renewed approval from the House of Representatives for the plan.
IBRA transferred various forms of assets valued at Rp 11.68 trillion (US$1.37 billion) to PPA after the former was wound up in February. Some Rp 5.13 trillion of the assets are in the form of shares in various entities; Rp 3.69 trillion in the form of claims; Rp 2.16 trillion in the form of property assets; Rp 674 billion the form of loans; and Rp 17 billion in the form of commercial paper.
The assets it manages are categorized as "free and clear" in terms of legality.
IBRA's assets that are not free and clear will be managed first by the government's clearance team before being transferred to PPA. The market value of these assets stands at around Rp 4.3 trillion.
PPA vice president Raden Pardede said that as agreed by the government, PPA would obtain 30 percent of the profits produced by the sale of the assets.
"PPA will take 30 percent of the margin, while the remaining 70 percent will be transferred to the government," said Raden.
The company, which will have a lifespan of five years, would transfer the proceeds from the asset sales to the government every six months, said Raden.
The government has allocated Rp 300 billion from the state budget to finance the operations of PPA.
Syahrial said the company would return the funds to the state before the end of the year, with these being taken from part of the proceeds raised by asset sales.