Bandung-based Bank BTPN set to launch IPO in December

The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Bandung-based private lender PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN) is set to launch an initial public offering in December, during which the government, as the biggest shareholder, will sell its stake in the bank.

BTPN executive director Paulus Wiranata said Tuesday in Bandung that the government, which owns a 28.39 percent stake in the bank through state asset management company PPA, had decided to sell its shares through an IPO in order to get a higher price.

He said that the price of the shares that would be offered to the public during the IPO had not yet been fixed. "But, if the shares could be sold at a price that is two times the bank's book value, the government could earn about Rp 500 billion," he added.

According to BTPN's compliance and risk management director, Taufik Hakim, the bank was currently in the process of obtaining the approval of the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam).

"We have, nonetheless, appointed Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB) and BNI Securities as the underwriters for the IPO."

He added that the bank was currently preparing to bring road shows to Singapore and Hong Kong to promote the IPO among overseas investors.

BTPN, which was established in 1958 as a pensioners' savings bank, now operates as a fully fledged commercial bank.

The bank's total assets as of the end of the first semester of this year amounted to Rp 8.44 trillion, up 32.66 percent from last year's Rp 6.36 trillion.

The bank's after-tax profit rose by 2.66 percent to Rp 154.64 billion during the first semester from Rp 150 billion in the same period last year, Paulus said.

The PPA is currently BTPN's biggest shareholder, followed by investment banking and fund manager PT Recapital with a 22.61 percent stake and entrepreneur Fuad Hasan Masyhur with a 20 percent stake.

BTPN's other shareholders are PT Danatama Makmur and Bakrie Capital, which respectively hold 19 percent and 10 percent stakes.

In addition to the IPO, BTPN is also planning to sell 71.61 percent of the company's shares to global private investment firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG) through its Indonesian unit, TPG Nusantara.

The Conditional Sale and Purchase Agreement (CSPA) was signed in May this year, but the transaction will be concluded after the IPO on condition that the purchase is approved by Bank Indonesia.

If the sales proceeds as expected, TPG will gain a 71.61 percent stake in the bank, with the investing public holding the remaining 28.39 percent.

Meanwhile, BTPN is set to launch its first sharia unit in Bandung later this year.

BTPN's planned venture into sharia banking is part of the bank's four growth-strategy pillars, which also include credit financing for pensioners, funding expansion and micro financing.

"We have already secured Bank Indonesia approval for the opening of the sharia unit last week and will proceed with the opening of one sharia branch in Bandung," business director Gandhi Ismail said. (amr)