BANK - JAKARTA. PT Bank Mandiri Tbk (BMRI, member of Kompas100 index) acknowledges that it is currently reviewing a planned acquisition of a medium bank.
Although he did not specify in detail the name of the bank being targeted, Bank Mandiri President Director Kartika Wirjoatmodjo explained that currently, his party is conducting a review of two medium-sized banks that are considered potential.
"Bank Mandiri does have excess liquidity of Rp 30 trillion. If there is a bank with a large size sold in Indonesia, of course, we will see it," he said when met in Jakarta on Monday (3/18).
Regarding rumors circulating related to the planned purchase of PT Bank Permata Tbk (BNLI, member Kompas100 index) by Bank Mandiri, Tiko called Kartika is not willing to comment on this. However, he gave a signal that it was not just Bank Permata that was the target of the company.
"It's not just one bank, but there are other banks that we want to release. Because there is excess capital that we want to deploy, of course, it depends on price, business synergy and adding value to shareholders," he added.
While regarding the period of the acquisition process, Tiko acknowledged that it could not be ascertained because according to him it depends on negotiations between the two parties.
The plan to expand the bank's business coded by the BMRI exchange, according to Tiko, has been thought of since 2017 and indeed has become one of the company's business strategies. Also, the orders from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) which encouraged large banks to consolidate this year were also assessed as triggering Bank Mandiri to buy a bank.
"We have said from 2017 that in the past 2-3 years (will acquire banks). And now there are opportunities and OJK driven, and we are still trying to see the potential in the market (market)," he explained.
However, Bank Mandiri said it was not targeting specifically the banks to be purchased at this time.
