Indovina Bank up for sale

Indovina Bank up for sale

HANOI (Dow Jones): Indovina bank, a joint venture between Indonesia's Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI) and state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Incom Bank) is up for sale, a source at Indovina told Dow Jones Newswires.

He said that a number of companies have expressed interest in Indovina whose future has been the subject of much speculation ever since its Indonesian parent was shut down Aug. 21 by the government after the state injected huge liquidity into the bank earlier this year amid massive bank runs.

Officials at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, set up by the central bank to recover government credit, couldn't confirm whether the agency was negotiating to sell BDNI's stake in Indovina. The former owners of BDNI - once one of Indonesia's largest banks - reached agreement in principle with the government in September to repay the US$2.5 billion it owes the state in a mixture of assets and cash.

This has led to speculation regarding the sale of its assets, both inside and outside Indonesia.