Chinese banks set to bid for Indonesia's BII

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-04 13:52:56

JAKARTA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Construction Bank (CCB) have planned to take over Temasek Holding's shares in Bank International Indonesia (BII), local press reported Tuesday.

Bank Indonesia, the central bank, reportedly has received proposals from the two banks for the shares.

If confirmed, the two Chinese banks would compete with Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's largest bank by assets, for Temasek's shares in BII, reported English-language daily The Jakarta Post.

"We received their proposals last week, but we haven't decided anything. We are still studying the proposals," Bank Indonesia Director for Research and Banking Administration Halim Alamsyah was quoted as saying.

He said the central bank had no reservations about accepting the proposal from the foreign banks.

"We always encourage banks to launch mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their assets. We will simplify the merger and acquisition regulations so the process can move faster," he said.

Singapore's investment firm Temasek plans to divest its shares in response to the central bank's single presence policy, which forbids the same shareholder from owning majority stakes in more than one bank.

Since 2003, Temasek's Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd. Has owned 75 percent of the shares of the Sorak consortium, which in turn owns a 55.85 percent stake in BII, Indonesia's sixth largest bank by assets.

Fullerton also holds a 59 percent majority share in Indonesia's fifth largest bank, Bank Danamon.