JUST like in a chess match, Marimutu Sinivasan is now one pawn ahead of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA). While his creditors were still deliberating over the option to sell, in order to settle debt problems, the founder of the Texmaco business group had already played his knight.

One week before the September 20 deadline for would-be investors to submit their final bids in IBRAs second Strategic Asset Sales Program (PPAS II), Siniv