S'pore firm vying for RI food company

S'pore firm vying for RI food company

SINGAPORE (DPA): Singapore Food Industries (SFI) has emerged as one of three international companies bidding to take over a food processing company once owned by a close ally and golfing buddy of former Indonesian President Suharto, a published report said on Friday.

The move comes as a number of Singapore government-linked companies raised their interests in assets currently controlled by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

Sources in Jakarta told The Business Times that IBRA expects the sale of PT Pangansari Utama to generate between US$30 million and $50 million.

"The parties will be requested to submit their final bids and the winner will be selected sometime in early November," one was quoted as saying.

The acquisition of Pangansari would enable SFI to further expand its regional business interests. It has operations in Malaysia, China and Australia as well as the United Kingdom.

PT Pangansasri is one of 30 companies that was pledged to IBRA by Mohamad "Bob" Hasan as repayment for liquidity assistance extended to his bank by Bank Indonesia in 1998.

Known as a timber baron, Hasan has been put under house arrest for alleged corruption.

It is the first time IBRA has put one of his companies on the market.

Pengansari is regarded as one of the few profitable companies under the group, the newspaper account said. Its main source of revenue is from its exclusive catering contracts with large mining and oil companies as well as from its warehousing operations.