Lippo buyout report uncorfirmed

Lippo buyout report uncorfirmed

PT Bank Lippo, an Indonesian lender partly owned by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG of Austria, declined to confirm or deny a report that Khazanah Nasional Bhd., Malaysia's state investment arm, is seeking to buy the bank.

Bank Lippo's management "is on a roadshow right now along with other Indonesian banks and the roadshow has got nothing to do with Khazanah," Joseph Luhukai, President Director of Bank Lippo, said in a text message to Bloomberg.

"A lot of investors are interested in Lippo," he said, declining to provide details. He also declined to confirm if the controlling shareholders and the founding Riady family, which still owns 5.6 percent, are selling their stake.

Khazanah has emerged as a main contender to acquire 52.1 percent of Bank Lippo from a group of investors led by Swissasia Swissfirst Bank, a unit of financial group Swissfirst AG, the Wall Street Journal Online reported on Monday, citing people it did not identify. Bank Lippo shares surged to their highest in almost five years after the news, adding as much as 6.9 percent at the midday break on Monday to Rp 1,090.

Khazanah Managing Director Azman Mokhtar is out of the office and could not be reached for comment, his secretary said.

Indonesia's Riady family, the founders of Bank Lippo, are involved in the negotiations, the report said. A senior executive of Bank Lippo said the management is unaware of any negotiations with Khazanah, the report said. -- Bloomberg