Commerce Asset doesn't rule out Bank Niaga bid

Commerce Asset doesn't rule out Bank Niaga bid

Dow Jones, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian financial group Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd. on Thursday said it isn't ruling out a bid for a further 20 percent stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Niaga.

Commerce Asset already owns 51 percent of the bank.

"I wouldn't rule it out but neither is there any commitment on our side that we will pursue it," Company Secretary Jamil Hajar Abdul Muttalib told Dow Jones Newswires.

Tuesday, the chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, Syafruddin Temenggung, said the agency will begin contacting investors regarding a plan to sell the 20 percent stake on Thursday.

"From what we understand, we are still early in the process...they have still to appoint advisers for the sale," Jamil said.

Initially, IBRA had planned to dispose of the Niaga stake and another 20 percent stake in PT Bank Danamon later this year, but the sale has been moved forward to July.

The decision to hasten the sale shows the agency hopes to ride on the success of its oversubscribed issue of a 20 percent stake in state-owned PT Bank Mandiri at end-June, analysts have said.

In November, Commerce Asset completed the purchase of a 51 percent stake in Bank Niaga for US$115 million, its first investment in a foreign bank, in a bid to become a regional banking player.

In December, Commerce Asset Director Rozali Mohamed Ali said the group had no plans to buy more shares at that time.

But even during the negotiations for the 51 percent stake, "we knew they had approval from parliament to sell another stake," Jamil said.

Commerce Asset is the parent of Malaysia's second largest banking group, Bumiputra Commerce Bank Bhd.

IBRA is the government agency set up by the Indonesian government to deal with the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Earlier this year, it sold a controlling stake in Bank Danamon to the Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings.