Bank Bira to make rights issue of 145m shares

Bank Bira to make rights issue of 145m shares

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bank Bira will make a rights issue of 145.60 million new shares at the price of Rp 1,150 (50 U.S. cents) on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in March.

"We have filed with the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) a registration statement relating to the rights offering," the bank said in a statement yesterday.

The bank stated that the owner of every five old shares will have the right to buy seven new shares at Rp 1,150 each.

The funds derived from the issue, estimated at approximately Rp 167 billion, will be used to improve its capital structure and to expand its financial business.

The bank said PT Merrill Lynch Indonesia had agreed, subject to certain conditions, to act as standby underwriter for up to 50.96 million shares.

The statement added that several of Bank Bira's principal shareholders, who collectively own almost 66.8 percent of the bank's shares, have declared their intentions to exercise approximately 71.2 million rights shares.

The bank expected that the rights shares would be placed with institutional investors by way of international placement to be conducted concurrently with the rights offering.

"This would reduce the principal shareholders' ownership interest in Bank Bira to no less than 55 percent of the enlarged share capital," the bank's statement added.

As of Sept. 30 last year, Bank Bira, one of the top 20 private banks in Indonesia, had Rp 1.5 trillion in assets and Rp 145 billion in equity.

During the first nine moths of last year, its net income was recorded at Rp 20.3 billion. Its rate of return on assets was 2 percent, while its rate of return on equity was 19.2 percent. (13)