Tahir hunts for Permata

JAKARTA. Information has it that Chairman of Maya Group Dato Sri Tahir is planning to acquire PT Bank Permata Tbk (BNLI). Tahir is even planning to acquire BNLI’s shares not only directly from market. Tahir is said to have offered discussion with the owner of 44.56% of BNLI’s shares, namely Standard Chartered (Stanchart) through intermediary entity.

Tahir told KONTAN that couple months ago the intermediary entity has offered Stanchart to discuss about the acquisition. “But to date Stanchart has not responded yet the offer,” Tahir said.

According to Tahir, recently the share price of Bank Permata worth only 0.6 times of price to book value (PBV). The price is considered cheap, as Bank Permata has large potentials.

According to Tahir, whom according to Forbes is the 8th richest person in Indonesia with the amount of wealth of US$ 2.8 billion, he will receive a larger added value by improving performance of the bank.

Tahir said that throughout the history of bank acquisition in Indonesia, the acquisition prices have been usually at 2.5 times to 4.7 times of PBV. The most expensive acquisition with the price of 4.7 times of PBV took place during the acquisition of PT Bank Ekonomi Raharja Tbk by HSBC in 2009.

Recorded net profits

Tahir wants to merge Bank Permata with PT Bank Mayapada International Tbk. However, this plan is not related to the corporate action of Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd, which has officially become the controlling shareholder of Bank Mayapada. Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd is the subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holding Co Ltd.

“I am still controlling Bank Mayapada. I have some SPVs as my vehicles,” Tahir said.

Until the news was revealed, the management of Stanchart has not yet responded to KONTAN’s questions related to the acquisition plan. However, Financial Director of Standard Chartered Lea Kusumawijaya on 16 January through email mentioned that the bank still could not make comment regarding this issue.

Management of Bank Mayapada said that Dato Sri Tahir strategy to acquire Bank Permata’s shares through market since November 2016 is considered as individual action.

Analyst at Mandiri Sekuritas Priscilla Thany and Tjandra Lienandjaja in a research predicts that the NPL ratio of Bank Permata will drop from 5% in 2016 to 4% in this year. Last year, Bank Permata recorded net losses of Rp 1.69 trillion. However, the bank is predicted to book a net profit of Rp 816 billion in this year.

(Muhammad Farid/Translator)