OCBC confirms NISP stake raised

OCBC confirms NISP stake raised

SINGAPORE: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. said on Thursday it has raised its stake in Indonesia's PT Bank NISP to 70.6 percent from 51 percent following a tender offer that ended last week.

Singapore's third-largest lender said it bought 810.8 million shares, or 19.61 percent of NISP, via the tender at Rp 900 a share. Following the close of the offer, it purchased an additional 193,500 NISP shares at Rp 899.92 each.

The additional stake in NISP cost OCBC about Rp 729.9 billion, which is approximately S$129 million. An OCBC spokesman said the Singapore lender did not intend to make a follow up bid for the remaining NISP shares it did not own.

"We are pleased with the level of acceptances for our tender offer. Our increased stake in Bank NISP will deepen our strategic relationship, and enable us to expand our presence in Indonesia," OCBC chief executive David Conner said in a statement. -- Dow Jones