Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) and Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are weighing bids for a 39 percent stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia, people with knowledge of the matter said.
They join Mizuho Financial Group Inc in considering offers by the end of this month for the Bank Panin stake being sold by Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ), the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private.
ANZ’s holding in the Jakarta-based lender are worth about 8.78 trillion rupiah (US$608 million) based on recent share prices, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
ANZ is seeking to sell the Bank Panin stake after Australian regulators in 2013 introduced rules requiring banks to subtract the entire value of overseas minority investments from Tier 1 capital.
Since the beginning of last month, the Melbourne-based lender has raised A$3.2 billion (US$2.3 billion) selling shares as it seeks to shore up capital.
A possible hurdle to the Indonesia sale is whether Bank Panin’s controlling Gunawan family would allow the new investor to have a board seat, according to the people.
ANZ has held on-and-off discussions to sell the stake to Mizuho for at least two years, they said.
Shares of Panin — which has a market value of US$1.56 billion — have declined 20 percent this year as Indonesia scales back its forecasts for economic growth.
Spokespeople for Fubon Financial Holding, ANZ, Bank Panin, Banco Bilbao and Mizuho declined to comment.
Fubon Financial Holding is looking for acquisition opportunities in Southeast Asia, as the Financial Supervisory Commission encourages the creation of a regional champion, the Taipei Times reported in March, citing comments made by Fubon Financial Holding president Vivien Hsu (許婉美) at an investors’ conference.
Banco Bilbao opened an Indonesia office in August last year, becoming the only Spanish financial institution in the nation.
It offers products focused on capital-markets activities and trade finance, according to its Web site.
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