Bank Mashill delays merger to next year

Bank Mashill delays merger to next year

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Mashill will postpone its
merger plan with three other medium-size banks -- Jayabank
International, Bank Artamedia and Bank Ciputra -- until early
next year.

Bank Mashill's president Dradjat Bagus Prasetyo said on Friday
the action was approved in an extraordinary shareholders meeting
on Thursday.

He said the bank was forced to postpone the merger plan to
give shareholders enough time to recapitalize the bank to meet
government requirements.

"We have to first recapitalize the bank before concluding the
merger plan."

The bank announced earlier this month that the merger plan
would be concluded later this month.

Bagus said the merger plan was necessary to boost the banks's
competitiveness in facing fierce competition in the banking
industry.

Under the initial merger deal, Jayabank's shareholders would
control 23.67 percent of the merged bank, Bank Artamedia 23.67
percent, Bank Ciputra 11.07 percent and Bank Mashill the
remaining 41.59 percent.

The banks also agreed that stakes controlled by Bank Mashill's
existing shareholders would be diluted proportionally after the
conclusion of the merger early next year.

This means the stake of the main shareholder, PT Mashill Jaya
Asia, will be reduced to 15.33 percent in the merged bank from
40.68 percent prior to the merger; Bank Brussels Lambert's stake
will be cut to 8.26 percent from 18.10 percent currently; PT
Putra Kartawisejati to 3.89 percent from 10.32 percent and the
public to 12.12 percent from 30.90 percent.

Bank Mashill, which recorded net profit of Rp 2.35 billion in
the first semester this year, is currently 18.10 percent owned by
Belgium's Bank Brussels Lambert, 51 percent by the Karta Wijaya
family and the rest by the public. (aly)