SBI in talks to buy Indonesian bank

30 Jun 2009 Evaluate

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, is in talks with Indonesia-based Bank Eksekutif to acquire a majority stake. Bank Eksekutif is one of the relatively smaller Indonesian banks, with a market capitalisation of $6.66 million.

Bank Eksekutif has 13 branches in Indonesia and an employee base of 491. According to Bloomberg data, it posted a loss of $3.3 million last year, and has a deposit base of $116.8 million. Indonesian media, on Monday morning, reported that SBI, along with five other investors from South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia and a local investor, has indicated interest in acquiring the bank.

In fact, SBI has a significant presence in Indonesia. It had acquired a 76% stake in PT Bank Indomonex in 2005, and subsequently, changed its name to Bank SBI Indonesia. Currently, the bank has 10 branches in Indonesia and it plans to open 16 more branches in the next 18 months.

SBI has already made its intention of growing its international footprint clear. Last week, a senior official of the bank had said that the bank had planned to raise the share of international business on its books to 25% by 2012. The bank has also recently set up a business co-operation venture with Italy’s Banca Popolare Di Vicenza.

SBI has been looking at increasing its operations in countries with significant trade ties with India, and also to facilitate the business needs of NRIs. Trade between India and Indonesia crossed the $10-billion mark last year; and market watchers expect this to rise further. India is one of the largest importers of Indonesia’s commodities, including palm oil and coal.

Currently, SBI is in consolidation mode with its domestic operations as well. It has already merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself and has approved the merger of State Bank of Indore with itself. The bank is expected to carry out mergers of the other associate banks as well.crackcrack

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