Malaysia's Khazanah gears up to buy another stake in Bank Lippo
Malaysia's Khazanah gears up to buy another stake in Bank Lippo
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The investment arm of the Malaysian government, Khazanah Nasional
Berhad, is reportedly ready to buy another 42.07 percent stake in
Bank Lippo in an acquisition worth Rp 2.67 trillion (US$267
million), after it acquired a majority stake in the bank in
September.
Khazanah subsidiary Santubong Investments B.V. is offering to
buy shares from other shareholders, as required by capital market
regulations, at Rp 1,620 each, Bank Lippo said in a faxed
statement received over the weekend.
The offer will be valid for 30 calendar days after the Capital
Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) issues its approval, the
statement said, without mentioning a specific time frame.
The bank's shares closed at Rp 1,560 on the Jakarta Stock
Exchange on Friday.
"Santubong has no plan whatsoever to delist from the capital
market," the bank's president director, Jos Luhukay, said in the
statement.
If the other shareholders agree to sell their shares, Khazanah
would control a 99 percent stake in the country's ninth-largest
lender.
The company acquired Swissasia Global's 52.05 percent stake in
Bank Lippo for about Rp 3.3 trillion, or Rp 1,619.11 per share, a
month ago, raising its stake to a majority 56.93 percent share.
At present, PT Lippo E-Net controls 5.57 percent of the bank's
shares, the government 2.48 percent and the public the rest.
Khazanah has not submitted a tender offer for Bank Lippo's
shares, the head of Bapepam's services sector appraisal bureau,
M. Noor Rachman, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency on
Saturday.
It would take the agency two weeks to process the application
before issuing a permit, he said.
Bank Lippo's first-half audited net profit more than doubled
to Rp 203.8 billion from Rp 101.6 billion a year earlier on
increased demand for credits.
Its net interest income, or revenue from borrowers after
deducting interest paid to depositors, rose to Rp 557.8 billion
in the first six months of the year from Rp 403.1 billion in the
same period last year.