The Risky Business of Asset Swaps
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has placed the debt burden of the Sinar Mas Group squarely upon the shoulders of the government. The move is both startling and disquieting.
February 6, 2001
The cloudy gray skies over the business world suddenly radiate with a momentary shimmer of light. There is a clap of thunder, whose rumble spells out IBRA's promise to restructure the debt of the Sinar Mas Group at Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) by means of an asset swap. Observers and House of Representative (DPR) members have responded to this 'thunderclap' with an immediate shower of threats.
The question is, have they overreacted? If so, t
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