Astra stake in Bank Universal falls

JAKARTA (JP): The stake held by automotive giant PT Astra International in Bank Universal has declined to 11.5 percent from 84 percent following the bank's recent rights issue.

The bank president, Stephen Satyahadi, said here on Monday that the government became the majority shareholder with a 78.91 percent stake, while the public holds the other 9.57 percent.

Stephen said Bank Universal issued rights shares to raise a total of Rp 5.06 trillion to finance its recapitalization program. About 20 percent of the rights shares were bought by Astra and the investing public.

"The bank raised about Rp 490 billion in fresh funds from Astra and another Rp 475 billion from the investing public," Stephen said.

The other 80 percent of the rights shares went to the government in return for its bonds, which were issued in June to finance the recapitalization.

The Bank Universal rights issue -- completed on June 2 -- was part of the government-sponsored recapitalization program in its efforts to restructure the ailing domestic banking sector.

Under the recapitalization program, Bank Universal should inject funds worth Rp 5.06 trillion to increase its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) -- the ratio between capital and risk weighed assets -- to 4 percent.

The bank's existing shareholders must come up with at least 20 percent of the capital requirement. The government provided the remaining 80 percent in the form of bonds, which are tradable after a year of their issuance.

Stephen said the bank is still open to other interested parties, including foreign investors.

"Foreign investor would go for a majority shareholding position if they were to buy a stake in our bank, because they want their presence in the bank to be acknowledged," the bank's vice president, Jerry Ng, suggested.

The foreign investors should take the government's stake, and not buy out other shareholders, he added. (udi)