Korea-Singapore consortium wins BII stake<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A consortium led by South Korea's Kookmin Bank and Singapore's
\nTemasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. was named on Wednesday as the winning
\nbidder for a 51-percent stake in Bank Internasional Indonesia
\n(BII).<\/p>\n
The consortium, Sorak Financial Holdings Pte. Ltd., won over
\nsole contender Panin consortium for the majority ownership in the
\npublicly listed bank, after agreeing to raise its bidding price,
\nIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) deputy chairman
\nSumantri Slamet told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"We accept the terms proposed by the Kookmin and Temasek
\nconsortium. Now, we'll let Bank Indonesia conduct a fit and
\nproper test on the consortium,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Although IBRA chose the Sorak consortium as its preferred
\nbidder on Tuesday, the agency demanded the consortium improve its
\nbid and terms in the sale and purchasing agreement (SPA), which
\nwas submitted to the agency early this week.<\/p>\n
Although its price was lower than that offered by the Panin
\nconsortium, the South Korean-Singaporean grouping was named the
\npreferred bidder, besting Panin in its overall valuation, which
\nincludes a review of their business plan and SPA.<\/p>\n
Malaysia-based ICB Financial Group Holdings and Barclays, a
\ntop lender in Britain, are the other members of the winning
\nconsortium. Temasek, an investment arm of the Singapore
\ngovernment, is also part of the consortium through its unit Asia
\nFinancial Holdings.<\/p>\n
The Panin consortium groups Austria's leading bank Raiffeinsen
\nZentralbank Osterreich and Fleur Enterprises, which is based in
\nBritish Virgin Islands, and local Panin Bank.<\/p>\n
Sumantri disclosed that Sorak's revised offer valued BII's
\nstake at 1.2 times the book value of Rp 68 per share. He did not
\nmention the original offer.<\/p>\n
BII was taken over by the agency from business giant Sinar Mas
\ngroup after it was crippled by the banking crisis in the late
\n1990s. IBRA, in return, received a 93.7-percent stake in the
\nbank.<\/p>\n
After Wednesday's deal becomes official -- that is, after the
\ncentral bank has completed the fit and proper and approved the
\nSorak consortium -- the agency's ownership in the bank would be
\ncut to 42.7 percent, with public investors holding the balance.<\/p>\n
BII is now listed among the country's top 10 banks, with
\nassets of more than Rp 36 trillion (US$4.1 billion) and 1.1
\nmillion customers.<\/p>\n
In addition to BII, IBRA has sold three other banks in the
\npast two years: Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Niaga and Bank
\nDanamon. A consortium led by Temasek was the winning bidder of a
\n51-percent stake in Danamon.<\/p>\n
IBRA's bank sales program aims to strengthen the banking
\nsector and at the same time, generate proceeds to help cover the
\nbudget deficit.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/korea-singapore-consortium-wins-bii-stake-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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