Stanchart, Astra may acquire more Permata stake

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has appointed the consortium of Britain's Standard Chartered Plc. (Stanchart) and PT Astra International as a standby buyer for its 20 percent stake in publicly listed Bank Permata, in case the sale fails to draw sufficient interest from the investing public.

The Permata shares sale is being managed by the Ministry of Finance's asset management company, PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA).

PPA president director Mohammad Syahrial said the appointment of the consortium was basically to avoid a lower share price.

"Based on the initial plan, we actually must sell the remaining shares through a market placement scheme. But if we fail to draw public's interest in acquiring the shares, we will still have the consortium as the standby buyer," he said on Monday after meeting with Minister of Finance Boediono.

The government recently selected the Stanchart-Astra consortium as the preferred bidder for a 51 percent stake in Permata, the country's seventh largest bank in terms of assets. PPA is planning to sell another 20 percent stake via the stock market to raise funds toward financing the state budget.

The Stanchart-Astra consortium is currently undergoing a fit and proper test conducted by the central bank.

Syahrial said a lack of public interest in the shares was possible, given the relatively high price of Permata shares under the offer made by Stanchart-Astra.

The consortium's offer valued the bank at 3.18 times its December 2003 book value -- equivalent to 2.73 times its June 2004 value -- which Boediono regards as well above the recorded average for previous bank divestments, even on a global scale.

"If we can't get a higher or at least a similar price for the remaining shares, it would be better to sell them to the standout buyer," said Syahrial.

Stanchart Indonesia chief executive director Stewart D. Hall told The Jakarta Post recently that the consortium was interested in acquiring more stakes in the bank.

"If the opportunity arises to increase our equity stake as a consortium, we would like to (take it)," he said.

Syahrial added that there was no fixed schedule yet as to when the shares sale would be conducted, as this depended on the next government.