The sale of Bank Central Asia has caused a stir. Of the final bidders for Indonesia's leading retail bank, Standard Chartered was believed to be the favourite. However, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra) has announced that the Farallon Capital consortium - a US investment firm - has won the bid to buy a total 51% stake in the bank.
Standard Chartered was the market's preferred candidate. It would have brought banking experience, new products and its knowledge of the emerging markets to BCA. But many of Indonesia's bankers are not surprised that Farallon has won.
Standard Chartered's final bidding price is believed to have been Rp1,800 a share, compared with Farallon's offer of Rp1,775 a share. Indeed the minister for state-owned enterprises in Indonesia said at a press conference that Standard Chartered made the highest bid. However, price was only half of the overall bidding criteria. The remaining 50% was based on consortium structure, the proposed business plan for the future of BCA and adherence to the terms and conditions in the sale and purchase agreement.
Standard Chartered claims that, among others, it was approached by Ibra to review its original bid.