IBRA to sell Salim assets to meet 2001 target

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said on Monday it planned to sell assets of the giant Salim Group to meet the agency's 2001 budget sales target of Rp 27 trillion (US$3.1 billion).

"Salim's assets in various businesses like plantations, properties, and hotels remain our mainstay for IBRA's revenue," IBRA chairman Cacuk Sudarijanto was quoted as saying by news agency Antara after attending the presentation of the 2001 state budget draft at the House of Representatives.

In the 2001 draft the government stipulated a sales target of Rp 27 trillion for IBRA, higher than the agency's sales target of Rp 18.9 trillion this year.

The current budget year, however, only runs from April to December 2000, as the government adjusted from a March-April budget year to a calender based budget year.

Cacuk expressed his optimism that IBRA would meet its next sales target, estimating that the biggest contribution would come from the agency's Asset Management Credit (AMC) division.

The AMC division is in charge of restructuring non-performing loans of banks IBRA has taken over.

The Salim Group has handed over to IBRA majority interest in 107 companies as part of the debt settlement of its affiliated Bank Central Asia (BCA). IBRA maintains the companies under the holding company PT Holdiko Perkasa.

Holdiko comprises, among others, 25 property firms, 24 palm plantations, 10 food & consumer product firms, nine oleochemical firms, five coal & granite firms, four plywood firms, four sugar firms, and one communication company.

Salim and IBRA initially valued Holdiko assets at Rp 50 trillion, but former Coordinating Minister for the Economy Finance and Industry, Kwik Kian Gie, argued they were only worth Rp 20 trillion.

The agency expects to sell the assets over the next four years through initial public offerings, direct placements and auctions.

To meet IBRA's 2001 sales target, Cacuk said, the agency also would rely on its Asset Management Investment (AMI) division and sales of nationalized banks.

IBRA's assets, he said, would be sold retail instead of in packages, because companies sold individually might yield higher proceeds.

According to him, the agency had already achieved Rp 12 trillion in revenues through September. He said that out of IBRA's 21 largest debtors, 71.5 percent of their total outstanding debts had been restructured.

"We've signed a memorandum of understanding with these debtors, and it (the debt restructuring) has now reached 71.5 percent, so we have already met our target as set out in the Letter of Intent (LoI)," Cacuk said of the LoI signed between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Under the agreement with the IMF, 70 percent of the debtors' outstanding debts under IBRA must be restructured by October.(bkm)