Three consortia compete for Danamon

Three consortia compete for Danamon

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) shortlisted on
Friday three bidders who are competing for a majority stake in
Bank Danamon, with the agency targeting to name the winning
bidder in May.

The three bidders are the Asia Financial Indonesia consortium,
the Bank Artha Graha consortium and the Bhakti Capital Indonesia
consortium, IBRA chairman Syafruddin Temmenggung said.

Syafruddin added that the last two consortia were comprised of
local bidders, while the Asia Financial Indonesia consortium
consisted of Temasek Holdings of Singapore and Deutsche Bank.

IBRA plans to sell a 51 percent stake in the country's second
largest private bank as part of its efforts to restructure the
banking industry, and to raise funds to help finance the state
budget deficit.

The divestment of government shares in private banks is aimed
at luring credible investors, who could, in turn, help improve
the banks' performance and revive the banking sector's
intermediary role.

In addition, revenues from the share sales are intended to
help finance the 2002 state budget deficit, projected at Rp 34.4
trillion, or 1.7 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

IBRA gained a 99.4 percent stake in Bank Danamon in return for
the Rp 47 trillion it injected into the bank to bail it out in
the wake of the 1997-98 banking crisis. The public holds the
remaining shares.

The three bidders will have about a month to conduct due
diligence on the bank before making their final bids, expected by
the end of April.