À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korea¡¯s state-run Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy 71.68 percent shares in Indonesia¡¯s PT Bank Mitraniaga Tbk, moving a step closer to setting up a local entity in the Southeast Asian country.
The latest agreement, which requires approval from Indonesian financial authority, comes five months after IBK announced a similar deal to buy a majority 82.59 percent stake in another Indonesian lender PT Bank Agris Tbk in November.
IBK¡¯s decision to take over the two lenders in Indonesia is aimed at establishing a local entity. Currently the Indonesian financial regulation requires a foreign bank to acquire at least two local banks to open own local entity and exercise management rights with more than 40 percent shares at the new business.
With the latest acquisition deal, IBK said it has moved a step closer to establishing its own business entity in Indonesia. IBK plans to merge Agris and Mitraniaga banks to set up its own entity in Indonesia after green light is given by the financial authority.
Both share purchase agreements involving Agris and Mitraniaga are conditional and are awaiting approval from the local financial authority. Mitraniaga, a small lender in Indonesia with 13 branches in Jakarta, plans to hold a shareholders meeting on May 25 to decide whether to approve the share sale.
By Lee Seung-yoon and Lee Eun-joo
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