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.