BNI to sell shares to public in July

BNI to sell shares to public in July

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) plans to sell a portion of its shares to the public in July this year, according to a senior bank official.

Willy Sambalao, BNI's acting president, said a number of local and foreign securities companies have formally applied to become underwriters of the bank's public flotation.

The final underwriters will be selected by the government's team for the preparation of state-owned companies' public flotations.

"The applicants have to pass through a tight beauty contest to win the place as BNI's main underwriter," he told newsmen at the breaking of the fast gathering at his office on Monday.

BNI, one of seven state-owned companies now being prepared to go public, will become the first state-owned bank to be listed on the capital market.

The bank, the largest state-owned bank, recorded a 22 percent rise in its total assets to Rp 37.5 trillion (US$16.2 billion) as of the end of last year from Rp 30.7 trillion at the end of 1994, while its profit rose by 31.3 percent to Rp 405.8 billion in 1995 from Rp 309.2 billion in 1994.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio was recorded at 9.08 percent as of last December, surpassing the minimum requirement of 8 percent set by Bank Indonesia, the central bank. The ratio of the bank's return on assets was 1.46 percent last year.

BNI operates 479 branches at home and six overseas branches in Singapore, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and on Grand Cayman Island.

Willy said he was optimistic that the bank's public offering will be successful, given the bank's promising performance in the previous two years.

Asked whether the D-plus rating given by Moody's to the bank last year would damage investors' appetite to buy its shares, Willy said that the not-so-favorable rating would not have a significant impact.

"The bank's high profitability will be more important to investors," he said. (hen)