PT STAR refuses to acquire the defunct Bank Summa
JAKARTA (JP): The creditors of the defunct Bank Summa will have to wait longer to get their money back, as PT Sira Tama Agra Raya (STAR) has scrapped at a plan to buy the bank -- at least until its current owners sweeten the pot.
"After completing the appraisal of various assets of the liquidated bank, we found that the total asset value is much lower than the liabilities," STAR's president, Rinto Harahap, told a press conference at headquarters of Bank Indonesia, the central bank yesterday.
The meeting, chaired by Hendrobudianto, a director of the central bank, and featuring members of Bank Summa's Liquidation Team (TLBS), including G.L.S. Kapitan, was held to clarify the position of the central bank in the negotiations between STAR and the team on the former's plan to acquire Bank Summa's assets.
Rinto and Kapitan signed a 45-day memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the middle of February this year on the take-over of the bank's assets and liabilities. The agreement, which expired on May 20, ruled that the liquidation team would submit confidential data on the bank to STAR.
One day after the signing of the agreement, STAR was required to make a cash payment, the amount of which was to be determined by the team. The following steps of the take-over plan included the signing of a principal agreement on the take-over and executing documents.
Once the takeover was effective, STAR was expected to make a cash payment to the team. The cash was then to be used to repay the bank's debts to its depositors, a syndication of domestic banks and other financial institutions.
"I can't reveal how much we found the total assets to be worth or how much I have paid the team," Rinto said, adding that his company is now offering two alternatives -- the lowering of liabilities or increasing the assets.
Assets
Kapitan said the defunct bank has 18 real estate parcels as assets.
"It's not true that we have sold part of the assets during the effective term of the agreement," he said, adding that next payment to depositors will be held within the next six or eight weeks.
Kapitan said there are 708 depositors awaiting the repayment of savings totaling Rp 718 billion (US$333.18 million).
Bank Summa's license was suspended in December 1992 due to its failure to repay debts. The liquidation team, which was immediately formed following the disclosure of the bank's problems, was encountering difficulties in selling its assets, resulting in the delay of the repayment of the bank's debts of around Rp 1.4 trillion to depositors and financial institutions.
Kapitan said that so far the TLBS has repaid the savings worth Rp 791 billion to about 180,000 depositors.
"Our liabilities to a consortium of 13 private domestic banks are estimated at Rp 64 billion, to common depositors Rp 115 billion, financial institutions Rp 160 billion and Bank Indonesia Rp 379 billion," he said.
Hendrobudianto said that amidst the occurring problem, there are other interested parties already proposing to take over the defunct bank's assets, "but they should undertake a procedural path similar to that taken by STAR."
He refused to name the interested parties.
He also said that STAR, however, will have the first chance to acquire the defunct bank if the company so wishes.
STAR, set up in 1992 to operate in business cooperation with Middle Eastern companies, is a subsidiary of the Agra Citra Tama Persada Group, which is owned by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of President Soeharto.
According to Hendro, Bank Indonesia stands just as a supervisor in the case, which has to continue finding other ways and to understand that the process will take time.(icn)