Panin insurance companies join bid for 51 stake in Bank Permata
Panin insurance companies join bid for 51 stake in Bank Permata
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Publicly listed insurance firm PT Panin Insurance and PT Panin
Life, two subsidiaries of Bank Panin, have decided to join a
consortium consisting of its parent company and ANZ Ltd. to bid
for the government's controlling stake in Bank Permata.
The decision came amid calls from state asset-management firm
PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA) for the consortium to increase
its capital reserves to sufficiently bid for Permata, the
country's seventh largest bank.
"We've informed the shareholders that we are currently joining
the Panin consortium to bid for Permata," said both Panin
Insurance and Panin Life in their report to the Jakarta Stock
Exchange (JSX) on Tuesday.
Bank Panin, the nation's eight largest bank, could have
difficulty coming up with the funds to acquire Permata due to the
limited capital of the bank, particularly amid the central bank's
regulation that limits the size of a bank's investment in a
single entity to not more than 10 percent of net equity.
As of June, the bank's equity stood at Rp 1.6 trillion (US$177
million) with assets valued at Rp 21.3 trillion. The equity is
likely far from enough to acquire Permata despite a contribution
from ANZ, which has a 29 percent stake in Panin.
The 51 percent Permata stake on offer is valued at around Rp
1.5 trillion.
Bank Panin shares ended higher by Rp 5 to Rp 345 on the JSX on
Tuesday, while Panin Insurance declined by Rp 5 to Rp 290, and
Panin Life was unchanged at Rp 140.
The government, via the PPA, controls 97.17 percent of the
shares in the publicly listed Permata, plans to sell a 51 percent
stake to strategic investors later this year, and another 20
percent to investors in the stock market next year. Proceeds from
the sale will be used to help finance the state budget deficit.
Five bidders have been shortlisted, including the consortium
made up of Malaysian-based Malayan Banking Bhd. (Maybank) and
state pension fund operator PT Jamsostek; Singapore's United
Overseas Bank (UOB); the Panin-ANZ consortium; consortium of
Britain's Standard Chartered Plc. and PT Astra International; and
Malaysia's Commerce Aset-Holding Bhd., which has teamed up with
Bank Bumiputera.
The above bidders have recently presented their business plans
for Permata in a due diligence session at the PPA office. The
preferred bidder is scheduled to be announced later on Friday.