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JAKARTA: Only two of the
three shortlisted investor consortia submitted final bids
for the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency's (IBRA) 45
percent stake in PT Astra International on Thursday, and the
winner will be announced on Friday, one day ahead of
schedule.
Only moments before receiving
the bid documents, IBRA chairman Cacuk Sudarijanto said that
the agency had decided to announce the winner on Friday
instead of Saturday as originally scheduled.
"This new schedule will
allow the winner to call its bank in New York," Cacuk
added.
One of the three shortlisted
bidders, the consortium led by Lazard Asia Fund, made a last
minute decision to submit a joint bid with Singapore's Cycle
& Carriage Ltd. consortium. This group includes Bhakti
Investama and Batavia Investment Management.
The second bidder, led by
Newbridge Capital of the U.S., includes PT Saratoga
Investama Sedaya, Chase Asia Equity Partners, PT Nusantara
Investment Fund, and Colony Capital.
Gilbert Global Equity
Partners, which was previously the co-leader of the
Newbridge consortium, dropped out of the bidding reportedly
due to timing constraints.
The first group of bidders
declined to say why they decided to submit a joint bid for
the 1.04 billion Astra shares, but an informed source said
that both Lazard and Cycle & Carriage encountered
difficulties raising such a large amount of cash in such a
short period of time.
"We definitely need the
money (at the latest) by March 28," Cacuk added.
The bid documents were
submitted to a notary and the presentation ceremony was
attended by representatives of the mass media, the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
"I assure you that the
transaction will be fair and transparent. The bid documents
will be opened at the same time tomorrow," he said,
apparently in a bid to alleviate worries about unfair
conduct by IBRA.
"There will be no
intervention from (people) higher than me, not even from the
President. It will be entirely IBRA business," he
added.
Cacuk said that price would
be the most important factor in selecting the winner. Astra
shares closed flat on Thursday at Rp 3,725.
Cacuk made the comment amid
speculation that the government favored the Newbridge-led
consortium which includes Saratoga Investama, a consulting
company controlled by the Soeryadjaya family, the founder of
Astra who had to "surrender" control of the
company in 1993 to investors linked to former president
Soeharto.
The Soeryadjaya family is
also known to be close to President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Edwin Soeryadjaya of Saratoga
declined to comment on this. He only said, "We're
pleased to submit our bid."
Newbridge, together with
Gilbert, was appointed the preferred bidder for the Astra
stake last September, but the transaction failed following
acrimonious debates with Astra management led by Rini
Soewandi (since replaced) and controversy over alleged lack
of transparency and the contentious issue of due diligence.
Cacuk said that as part of
the effort to safeguard fairness within the bidding process,
the Government of Singapore's Investment Corp., had not been
allowed to participate in the due diligence process, and had
not been allowed to review the terms and conditions
submitted by the two bidders.
"This is because the
Singapore investment company was included in both the
Newbridge consortium and the Lazard consortium," he
added.
The consortia have just
completed a three-week due diligence on Astra, the country's
largest carmaker, that also has large investments in
plantations, heavy equipment, motorcycle and finance
industries.
Cacuk dismissed reports that
Malaysia's Kumpulan Guthrie, not included in the shorlist,
had made a last minute bid.
"Until now, I have not
received any paper (bid) from them," he said.
Cacuk added that the
government would allow the winning bidder to pay in U.S.
dollars based on Rp 7,460 per dollar, the middle rate
prevailing on Wednesday.
Astra is considered the jewel
among IBRA's prime assets and proceeds from the sale will
contribute to the Rp 17 trillion revenue target to be raised
by the agency in the current fiscal year ending March 31.
Cacuk declined to say how
much cash he expected from the transaction but analysts said
IBRA expected at least $500 million. The agency has so far
raised around Rp 11 trillion.
The Astra sale will be the
first high profile deal to be completed by the agency since
its botched transaction with Standard Chartered Bank of
Britain for Bank Bali late last year.
Cacuk said that a successful
completion of the Astra deal would help revive confidence in
the country's ailing economy.
Meanwhile, Astra President
Theodore P. Rachmat, a cousin of Williamn Soeryadjaya, said
he would welcome any winning bidder for the Astra stake.
"May the best bidder
win," he said. (rei)
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