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March 13, 2008 |
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BANK INT'L: Plans to Acquire Teamsek's BII Stake South Korea's Kookmin plans to acquire Singapore fund Temasek's PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk shares, that could give it a controlling stake in the bank, Reuters reports. According to the report, Kookmin spokesman Choi In-seok confirmed part of a report from the Korea Economic Daily that quoted its CEO Kang Chung-won as saying that Kookmin bank planned to raise its stake in Bank International. As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter - Asia Pacific on Dec. 26, 2007, under Bank Indonesia's single-presence policy, foreign parties cannot own a controlling stake in more than one Indonesian bank and must submit statements of compliance to this rule. Bank Indonesia, the report noted, set an end-2007 deadline for affected bank owners to decide on how they would comply with the rule. Foreigners controlling Indonesian banks have three options to comply with the single presence policy introduced by Bank of Indonesia, the TCR-AP related: -- merge the banks, -- set up a holding company for the banks, or -- sell down their stakes. Temasek's Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd. since 2003 has owned 75% of the shares of Sorak consortium, which in turn owns a 55.85% stake in BII. Fullerton also holds a 59% majority share in Bank Danamon. Kim Yeon-hee of Reuters writes that Kookmin controls BII via the Sorak Financial consortium led by Temasek, which paid US$380 million for a 51% stake in BII in 2003. The South Korean bank owns 10.2% of BII, the report notes. An unknown source told Reuters that Kookmin is seeking advice from Merrill Lynch on the Indonesian market. About Bank Internasional PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk -- http://www.bii.co.id/ -- engages in general banking services and in other banking activities based on Syariah principles. The bank's services are divided into three categories: Personal Services, consisting of Funding, Credit Card Services, Loan, Reksadana and Bancassurance; Corporate Services, consisting of Funding, Credit Card Services, Loan and Investment Banking, and Platinum Services, consisting of Platinum Access, Syariah Platinum Access and Platinum MasterCard. The bank is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia. With a total customer deposit base of more than IDR34 trillion and over IDR47 trillion in assets, Bank Internasional is one of the largest banks in Indonesia with an international network that comprises over 230 branches and 700 ATMs across Indonesia, as well as a banking presence in Mauritius, Mumbai and the Cayman Islands. The Troubled Company Reporter-Asia Pacific reported on March 3, 2008, Fitch Ratings has affirmed PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk's(BII) long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating at 'BB', following Fullerton Financial Holdings' announcement of its intentions to pursue the sale of its interest in BII. FFH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. On October 19, 2007, Moody's Investors Service raised the foreign currency long-term debt and foreign currency long-term deposit ratings of PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk. -- The issuer/foreign currency subordinated debt ratings were raised to Ba2/Ba2 from Ba3/Ba3 and foreign currency long- term deposit rating to B1 from B2 -- The Not Prime foreign currency short-term deposit rating, Baa3 global local currency deposit rating and D BFSR were unaffected. On Aug. 15, 2007, that Fitch Ratings affirmed all the ratings of Bank Internasional as follows: * Long-term foreign currency IDR at 'BB-' with a Positive Outlook, * Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'B', * Individual Rating 'C/D', * Support Rating '4', Support Rating Floor 'B' and * National Rating 'AA-(idn)'. |
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