REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia and Japan have agreed to appoint a new independent auditor to evaluate the asset value of PT Inalum to settle the aluminum company's takeover bid.

"We have agreed to appoint an independent auditor approved by both parties. The name will be revealed in a couple of days," Dahlan Iskan, the state enterprises minister, said here on Thursday.

The decision is part of the commitment by the two parties to end the cooperation contract smoothly.

It seems the Japanese party is rather disappointed that the cooperation has not concluded smoothly despite the fact that they have recorded 30 years of good management and technology transfer.

Dahlan said the new auditor would evaluate the assets up to the end of October 2013, in line with the expiration of the contract.

The two countries have still not arrived at a mutual agreement regarding the amount Indonesia should pay Japan in connection with the Inalum transfer.

Japan had set the cost of the transfer of 58.8 percent of its shares in the company at US$626 million. Indonesia, on the other hand, based on calculations by the Development and Financial Supervisory Agency (BPKP), had valued it at only US$424 million.

"We had the BPKP audit results, but the auditing was done only up to March 2103. The new auditor will conduct an audit up to October 2013," Dahlan said.

Dahlan said the government has asked the BPKP to conduct a fresh audit up to October 2013 as well.

"The new auditor will work, and we [BPKP] will conduct an audit simultaneously. Our results will be used as a reference by the government," he stated.

In principle, Dahlan added, the two parties have agreed to end their cooperation on a happy note.

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