www.thestar.com,my - KUALA LUMPUR: Affin Holdings Bhd will patiently continue to wait for Bank Sentral Republik Indonesia (BSRI), the Indonesian central bank’s formal agreement to allow Affin to hold at least a 51% stake in PT Bank Ina Perdana.
“The informal indications so far seems to be quite positive. If possible, we want it to be formalised,” Affin deputy chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin said at a press conference after the AGM yesterday.
Lodin said Affin would renegotiate the stake purchase price should the actual stake buy be less than the targeted 80% initially as “different stakes have different premiums”. (source)
He added that Affin would not be interested in acquiring should it end up holding less than 50% stake.
“If it (BSRI) says ok you can own more than 51%, we’ll probably consider it more. If it is asking us to hold less than 50%, then we will not be interested. We will also renegotiate with the seller for a price that would reflect the 51% shareholding as opposed to 80%,” Lodin said.
Affin had drawn up this internal proposal to acquire Bank Ina Perdana more than one-and-a-half years ago and this proposal has since gone on hold due to the latest Indonesian banking regulations which have yet to be officially finalised.
Bank Ina Perdana is a smallish Indonesian bank with about 20 plus branches which Affin intends to convert into a full fledged Islamic bank after it buys into it.
Meanwhile, Affin said it expected to be the first local bank to secure a presence in mainland China in the medium term as the Bank of East Asia (BEA) is Affin’s major shareholder with a 23% stake presently.
Lodin said, however, that this would very much depend on Bank of China’s clearer indications on this matter and that it would continue to be in touch with the regulators there.
Affin aims to market their brand of Islamic banking in the Muslim-majority population areas in northwestern China where Hong Kong’s BEA has a branch in Urumqi. Affin also hopes to establish banking operations in recently democratised Myanmar but said that this would depend on the Government’s relations with Myanmar.
Back at home, Affin sees its loan portfolio growing at 10%-12% in its financial year 2012 ending Dec 31.
“The responsible lending guidelines is a very good measure by Bank Negara as a start. So far, we have not seen any significant impact on Affin Bank,” Affin Bank managing director Datuk Zulkiflee Abbas Abdul Hamid said.
Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/17/business/11115519&sec=business - April 17, 2012
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