---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Dow Jones July 23, 1999 Indonesia Bapindo Court Case Won't Derail Mandiri Merger JAKARTA -- The merger of four Indonesian state banks will proceed as scheduled despite a court ruling that blocked it on the grounds that one of the four - PT Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (P.BPM), or Bapindo - is entangled in a legal dispute with private bank PT Bank IFI, Bapindo's president said Friday. PT Bank Bumi Daya, PT Bank Dagang Negara (P.DGN) and PT Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia (P.BEI) are the other three state-owned banks that are merging to form Bank Mandiri. Agam Napitupulu, president director of Bapindo, told reporters Friday that the temporary injunction made by the South Jakarta District court wasn't a final decision. "The merger of Bapindo into Bank Mandiri will proceed as planned," he said. Law firm Bambang, Muchtar & Wardhana published a notice in local newspapers Friday that said the Jakarta court had issued an injunction ordering Bapindo to suspend the merger process until Bapindo settles its obligation to PT Bank IFI. According to newspaper reports, Bank IFI took Bapindo to court as the state bank - which used to own 58% of Bank IFI - had apparently urged Bank IFI to provide 162.55 billion rupiah ($1=IDR6,860) in loans to three companies so that the companies could settle their outstanding loans to Bapindo. The three companies are PT Vastex Prima Industries, PT Jawa Muna Agro and PT Senang Kharisma Textile. Bank IFI in seeking to recover the loans has argued that it wouldn't have extended the loans only on a "recommendation" from Bapindo. Because of this it has taken the bank, rather than the debtors, to court. Agam, president director of Bapindo, said under the merger arrangement, all liabilities of the four banks will be taken over by the new entity Bank Mandiri. Agam stressed that Bapindo doesn't have any obligations to Bank IFI, adding that Bank IFI should have pursued the debtors rather than Bapindo. He also denied that Bapindo had ever made any "recommendation" to Bank IFI to extend loans to those companies. Bapindo has sold down its stake in Bank IFI to the current level of 0.1%. The merger of four state banks into Bank Mandiri is expected to be completed by the end of the month and Bank Mandiri is scheduled to begin commercial operations Aug. 2. -By I Made Sentana (62-21) 3983 1277;[EMAIL PROTECTED] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Jul 1999 jam 00:41:58 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
