Foreign banks eye BII, Lippo: IBRA

Foreign banks eye BII, Lippo: IBRA

Dow Jones, Jakarta

A slew of Asian and European banks are keen on buying a stake in
Indonesia's PT Lippo Bank and PT Bank Internasional Indonesia,
according to a document seen by Dow Jones.

The document from Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency, or
IBRA, to parliament said DBS Bank, a unit of Singapore's DBS
Group Holdings, U.K.-based Standard Chartered Plc. and Malaysia's
Malayan Banking Bhd are eying Lippo Bank and BII.

Other banks cited in the document were Malaysia's RHB Capital
Bhd, China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Hong Kong-
based Bank Of East Asia Ltd., South Korea's Kookmin Bank, ABN
Amro Holding N.V. of the Netherlands, France's BNP Paribas S.A,
Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Commonwealth Bank of
Australia, Westpac Banking Corp. and Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group.

IBRA hopes to sell its entire 52 percent stake in Lippo Bank
in October and a 71 percent stake in Bank Internasional in
November. The government has a 93.7 percent stake in Bank
Internasional.

The proceeds from the sale of the stakes will be used to cover
the government's 2003 budget deficit which is expected to reach
Rp 34.4 trillion.

Separately, IBRA's chairman Syafruddin Temenggung told
reporters Monday that some foreign banks in Asia and Europe have
expressed an interest in buying a stake in Lippo Bank and
Internasional Indonesia.

He refused to name the banks, but added they are from the
U.K., Germany, France, the Netherlands, China, South Korea,
Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.