Dianlia freed from wrongdoing over Adaro, IBT share purchase

Local firm PT Dianlia Setyamukti (DSM) said it was cleared by the Singapore High Court of any wrongdoing in its purchase of shares in coal miner PT Adaro and PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal (IBT) from Deutsche Bank AG., Republika reported Saturday.

 

Dianlia and Deutsche were sued by a Singapore-based company Beckkett Pte Ltd.over the disputed sale of stakes in companies.

 

“The Singapore High Court ruled in Dianlia's favor dan Bacckett was also instructed to pay the lawyer fee of DSM,” DSM’s lawyer Kenneth Tan said on Friday in Singapore.

 

“The verdict vindicate the position we have maintained all along that the company's purchase of shares in PT Adaro Indonesia complied with all prevailing Indonesian laws, was legally binding, and was a bona fide and lawful purchase of the shares in good faith,'' he said.

 

The dispute stemmed from Deutsche's 1997 loan of $100 million to PT Asminco Bara Utama, which provided collateral in the form of its stakes in Adaro and PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal. Asminco defaulted on the loan, which had been guaranteed by Beckkett, and the German bank foreclosed on the collateral, selling the stake in Adaro and other companies to Dianlia for $46 million in a private sale.

 

Beckkett, controlled by Indonesian plantation tycoon Sukanto Tanoto and businessman H. Djojohadikusumo, claims it wasn't notified of the sale and that Deutsche failed to take steps to obtain the best possible price for the shares, according to court filings. (*)