Tahija retains 10.49% stake in Bank Niaga

JAKARTA (JP): The Tahija family retains a 10.49 percent stake in Bank Niaga after Hashim Djojohadikusumo's Tirtamas Group failed to make full payment on its planned acquirement of the family's shares, a bank spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman who asked to remain anonymous said Tirtamas had suffered serious liquidity problems due to the economic crisis and was unable to carry through with its plan to acquire all of the Tahija family's 40 percent share in the bank.

"Because of the crisis, Tirtamas could not settle all payments to Tahija. Consequently, Tahija still holds a stake in the bank."

Tirtamas' spokesman, however, could not confirm if the group failed to make the payment.

"What I know is that there is no problem between Pak Hashim and the Tahija family," Janus Hutapea said.

Bank Niaga's financial statement, published on Monday, shows that Tahija's wholly owned PT Astindo Teguhjaya has a 10.49 percent stake in Bank Niaga.

PT Tunasmas Panduarta, Tirtamas' financial holding company, holds a 39.51 percent stake in the bank.

Other shareholders are RHB Bena Sdn. Bhd. with 20 percent, life insurer AJB Bumiputera 1912 with 5.43 percent and the investing public with 24.57 percent.

In a surprise move, Tirtamas' Tunamas Panduarta bought a 10 percent stake in Bank Niaga through a public tender offer in July.

In addition, it entered into an agreement with Tahija's Austindo Teguhjaya and Austindo Nusantara Jaya to buy the latter's 75.63 million shares, or 40 percent of the bank's capital, at Rp 8,000 per share (about US$1 at the current exchange rate).

Julius Tahija said his family sold their shares because they wanted to focus on the mining and power generation business.

Established in 1985, Bank Niaga is one of the largest private banks in Indonesia, with total assets of Rp 10.965 trillion at the end of 1997.

It booked a net profit of Rp 48.3 billion in 1997, a sharp drop from Rp 97.98 billion in 1996.

Bank Niaga listed its shares on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges in 1989. It has more than 60 branches in Indonesia and offices in Los Angeles, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong. (jsk/rid)