Two consortia to compete for Niaga stake
Two consortia to compete for Niaga stake
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) named on Monday
two consortia, led each by ANZ Banking Group Ltd. and Malaysian
financial group Commerce Asset-Holdings Bhd., as the qualified
bidders for the government's 51 percent stake in Bank Niaga.
But IBRA chairman Syafruddin Temenggung said during a news
conference that the winning bidder would be decided by State
Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi, who oversees the
agency.
The two consortia submitted their final bids by the final
Monday deadline, but IBRA declined to disclose the offers.
The agency had short-listed four consortia to go to the final
bidding round, but two other local consortia, each led by Batavia
Investment Management and Bank Victoria International, failed to
complete the process.
Batavia failed to attach the documents necessary for a
fit-and-proper test, while Bank Victoria failed to submit its
final bid altogether, Syafruddin said.
While ANZ is partnered with local Panin Bank, Commerce Asset-
Holdings, which owns Malaysia's third largest banking group
Bumiputera-Commerce, has reportedly teamed up with a company
owned by Robby Djohan, the former president of Bank Niaga.
Syafruddin, however, did not say whether the government would
proceed with the sale of the mid-sized bank if the accepted bids
were too low compared to the publicly listed bank's current
market price of Rp 80 per share.
He told the media last week that the agency would cancel the
plan if the final bids were not favorable.
Reports earlier said that preliminary bids submitted by the
bidders were only between Rp 15 and Rp 25 per share.
The sale of the government stake in Bank Niaga is part of the
country's economic reform program agreed with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF).
The proceeds from the divestment program should help finance
the 2002 state budget deficit. IBRA is targeted to raise more
than Rp 35 trillion in cash this year.
The IMF has warned the government not to delay the sale of
Bank Niaga.
The financial market has been waiting for the sale, which is
expected to give a further boost to the rupiah.
IBRA controls a 97.15 percent stake in Bank Niaga, which was
bailed out by the government in the late 1990s.
Elsewhere, Syafruddin said that he would suggest to Laksamana
that he consider three things when deciding on the acceptable
bidding price for the Bank Niaga stake.
"First, Niaga is considered a healthy bank, as evidenced
by its solid performance in the first quarter," he said.
The bank managed to post Rp 57 billion in net profit at the
end of March, compared to Rp 23 billion recorded in the same
period last year.
The bank's non-performing loans (NPLs) were reduced from 25
percent last year to 8.2 percent.
"Second, as Niaga is a publicly listed company, the selling
price should be based on the market price.
"Third, a premium price should be determined in a selling
process that involves majority ownership," he said, adding that
the premium price should hover at 10 percent to 30 percent above
the market price.