JP/13/CAHB

CAHB completes payment for Niaga

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Malaysian financial firm Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd. (CAHB) said it had deposited the full Rp 1.01 trillion (about US$114 million) payment to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) account to close the Bank Niaga divestment deal.

"The closing of the Niaga divestment deal will allow us to focus on developing the bank by capturing a share of the consumer finance and commercial business," CAHB director Rozali bin Mohammed Ali said in a press release.

The payment, which was made through Citibank, followed the signing of a sale and purchase agreement between IBRA and CAHB for Niaga's 51 percent stake two weeks ago.

In addition to the payment, CAHB also submitted to IBRA nominees for Niaga's commissioner and director positions, although the lists were kept private.

All the names will be made public once Niaga's extraordinary shareholders' meeting, scheduled for next Monday, was completed, the statement said.

Previously, IBRA and Commerce had agreed to a four-three composition of board directors in Niaga, with Commerce taking four seats while IBRA would take three.

The deal has effectively reduced IBRA's ownership in the bank to 46 percent from 97 percent.

While Commerce is the second largest banking group in Malaysia with a market capitalization of over $2.2 billion and total group assets of almost $21 billion, Niaga is Indonesia's ninth largest bank with assets of over $2.7 billion as of June 30 of this year.