Monday, August 20, 2007

Foreign investors eyeing Bali Banks

From the Jakarta Post

DENPASAR (Antara): American and Singaporean investors are eyeing two local banks which are in dire need of fresh fund to increase their capital to a minimum of Rp 80 billion (US$8.6 million) respectively, an official has said.

"Some Indonesian and foreign investors have expressed keen interest in buying Bank Sriparta and Bank Sinar which are required to increase their capital to Rp 80 billion each by the end of 2007," Denpasar-chapter of Bank Indonesia (BI) medium-scale bank senior controller Achmad Fauji said Sunday.

Investors from Singapore and the United States had been exploring the possibility of buying Bank Sriparta, he said on the sidelines of a Denpasar-chapter Bank Indonesia meeting.

He, however, did not mention the names of investors that wanted to purchase Bank Sinar.

Previously, the head of BI office in Denpasar, I Ketut Sanjaya, said Bank Sinar was looking for an additional capital of Rp 55 billion and Bank Sriparta Rp 65 billion. (***)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Permit confusion leaves Bali ‘dry’

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e1bcb4ba-48e4-11dc-b326-0000779fd2ac.html

A de facto government ban on imports of wine and other alcohol has led to a shortage on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali.

It is the latest blow to a tourism industry still struggling to emerge from the shadows of terrorist attacks in recent years.

Bali is due to host a big tourism conference next month and welcome 10,000 people from across the world for a United Nations environment meeting in December.

But a shake-up of Indonesia’s customs agency, aimed at cleaning up one of the country’s most corrupt institutions, has shut down a once-thriving black market and left big hotels running low on alcohol during the peak August season for European visitors.



“It is becoming a serious issue,” said Michael Burchett, the general manager of the five-star Conrad hotel and head of the Bali Hotel Association. “Some hotels are reporting a 40 per cent reduction in the number of items available on their wine lists. If something doesn’t happen soon most of the hotels are going to have very serious problems by the end of September.”

David Wilson, general manager at Bali’s Ritz-Carlton hotel said: “We’re getting to the point where supplies have reached the end of the road.”

The shortage, which is also affecting the capital Jakarta and other big ­cities, has been triggered by the collapse of the complicated quota system that controls alcohol imports.

The system requires distributors to obtain quotas every six months. It began to unravel after the state audit agency last year discovered significant under-invoicing at the state-owned company that acts as a conduit between the trade ministry, which issues quotas, and ­distributors.

Police confirmed they were investigating the Indonesian Trading Company and the customs agency while officials said they were unable to apply for distributor quotas while the investigation was pending.

According to government officials a new system is due to be implemented soon and will ensure that Bali is well-supplied with alcohol.

Customs officials said a crackdown in Bali earlier this year had found more than 58,000 bottles of alcohol with fake import stickers or none at all, all of which were impounded.

But retailers in Bali said they were stunned by the move, as they thought they were importing wine legally, and it had left local residents with limited choice.

“It’s impossible to buy foreign wine and beer now,” said Kathryn Bruce, a Bali resident. “Every shop I know of that used to sell it has run out.”

John Daniels, the head of the Bali-based Discovery Tours, said the shortage would make it much harder to attract visitors. “We’re trying to persuade the world we’re a great holiday destination and for many Europeans having a drink without paying an arm and a leg is a key part of the experience,” he said.


Monday, August 06, 2007

Sanur leads the way in Bali

by Adrian Batten

http://www.property-report.com/aprarchives.php?id=662&date=050807

What is the most expensive piece of real estate in Bali? The answer may surprise. It’s Sanur. Despite all the promotional hoopla for villa developments in Seminyak and Canggu, and even swankier ones on the cliffs of Bukit and Jimbaran, Sanur is and will remain, for the foreseeable future, the bluest of blue-chip Bali.

Known affectionately, or dismissively according to taste, as ‘Snoring-on-Sea’, the sobriquet is understandable if mistaken. A better analogy might be Belgravia-by-the -Sea, or just think of Santa Barbara in California.

“Not many people are aware of it, but every year 40 to 50 expat families from Kalimantan and elsewhere in Indonesia buy or build villas in Sanur,” says Roger Kalhoefer, a principal of BaliPropertyInfo.com. “They come because Sanur is a pleasant place to live and because it has three of Bali’s top schools, including Bali International School (BIS), the only institution in Bali offering the International Baccalaureate.”

“Sanur is known as a bit sleepy, and we hope it remains so,” adds British businessman Ian Spence , who has had a house for over 30 years in the renowned Batujimbar Estate gated community and who was heavily involved in the establishment and growth of BIS.

Evidence that Sanur is quietly absorbing the influx and reinventing itself is seen everywhere you look. Several major clearings of large beach properties from six to 20 hectares have been made toward the western end of Sanur’s beach, all but one scheduled for villa development. Informed sources say the Bali Hyatt in Sanur, the island’s first truly luxury resort, will be completely re-developed, with the long-empty property across the road to become an exclusive, upmarket estate.

Today, new fashion shops in Jalan Tamblingan add a more stylish look to the main shopping street, while pleasant high-quality, low-key restaurants and cafés have sprung up. Everywhere you look, whole neighbourhoods have taken on a solid and prosperous look as new villas are completed by independent owners.

Community appeal
The appeal isn’t just to foreigners. Wealthy Jakartans have long wanted a piece of Sanur, too, yet other than schooling, what’s the appeal? Unlike so much of southern central Bali today, Sanur is quiet, traditionally accepting of foreigners, has a sense of community, is well run and plans to stay that way.

The restored beach, a broad swathe of white sand, is safely protected from the surf by a reef and is readily accessible. Sanur has proper infrastructure. Getting around is easy, walking a pleasure and cycling’s not the life-threatening exercise it can be elsewhere. It has proper pavements, so you won’t break a leg falling into a nullah or electrocute yourself on a tangle of naked cables.

Above all, Sanur is a known quantity. What you see is what you get. In Kerobokan, Canggu and other ‘hot’ areas, traffic is already a problem and in two years current views of the rice fields could change to those of a modern concrete village, or at best another villa development. Observes Kalhoefer: “In Canggu typically, you have no easy beach access, no direct highway from the airport, no good restaurants within a 10-minute drive and your only view is the construction of other villas.”

Price ranges
Land prices in Sanur range from about US$10,000 per are (100sqm) across the bypass to double that as you near the beach. A property in Batujimbar, when they come on to the market, is expected to set you back about US$1.1 million for a four-bedroom villa, set in half an acre of mature garden several properties in from the beach. Beachfront properties in Batujimbar almost never come onto the open market.

“The proximity to specific views, like ocean surf, or the sacred River Ayung, adds a multiple of two or three times to the typical price of land that doesn’t have views, but the biggest multiple in Sanur, roughly four times, comes from being inside the security perimeter of the Batujimbar Estate,” says Kalhoefer.

Sanur’s attractions are summed up by 39-year-old Denise Baron, a business owner and author from Philadelphia, who has been coming to Bali regularly since 1991 and recently bought a property.

“I’ve fallen in love with Sanur and the surrounding area,” she says. “It provides me with the lifestyle I have back home, with a sense of community and great places to dine, socialise and shop. I feel safe swimming in the ocean with my family and I enjoy beachside strolls. The combination of cultural events, customs and friendly people make it a wonderful place to live.”

In time the new residential estates being built on Bukit may come to be the investment of choice, eclipsing Batujimbar. As for the social or ‘happening’ scene, Sanur’s already done that far more stylishly decades ago. Sanur is a benign and mature seaside village, redolent of wealth and serenity, with a history and a culture to match. It doesn’t take much imagination to see Jalan Tamblingan becoming the Bali version of Rodeo Drive. In the view of some of Southeast Asia’s most wealthy men who have homes there, if you can afford the ante, Sanur will long be one of Bali’s safest and surest investments.