Properties of closed down banks up for auction

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) will auction this month about 25 properties formerly owned by liquidated banks.

The properties, worth about Rp 15 billion (about US$1.8 million), include shop-houses, warehouses and residences located in Jakarta and Bekasi, West Java. They will be auctioned by PT Balai Lelang Indonesia (Balindo).

Balindo managing director G. Gunawan said the auction, which will be open to the public, would be held at the Mulia Senayan hotel on May 31.

He said prospective buyers would be given from May 25 to May 30 to check the properties on offer with the assistance of auction officials.

"We will announce the price limits for these properties during the open house on May 25," Gunawan said, adding that Century 21 Indonesia property brokerage company would cooperate in the auction.

The properties include an office building formerly owned by Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI) in Palmerah, West Jakarta, a shop-house which formerly belonged to Bank Lautan Berlian at Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, and a residence once owned by Bank Subentra in Tebet, South Jakarta. The banks were part of more than 40 banks closed by the government in 1998 after a massive run on the institutions. IBRA then took over the banks' assets as their shareholders could not pay their huge debts to the government.

President of the Association of Real Estate Brokers in Indonesia Cynthia G. Sonneville said the properties would be good assets for investment because most of properties owned by banks were located in strategic locations.

IBRA also has held several auctions of cars, paintings and furniture confiscated from the closed banks.

Gunawan said that the buildings were only about 2.5 percent of about 1,000 property assets now under the control of IBRA.

He added that Balindo guaranteed all the properties were backed by valid certificates of ownership.(07)