KUALA LUMPUR:'' CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which received shareholders' nod to buy up to a 19.67% stake in Indonesia's PT Bank CIMB Niaga TBK, will step up to expand its services in Indonesia.
CIMB Group CEO Datuk Nazir Razak said on Monday, July 26, the group planned to improve various segments of its business in Indonesia. Initiatives include expanding its microfinance, autofinance, credit card, priority banking, investment banking and corporate banking businesses under CIMB Niaga.
For example, they were looking to expand CIMB Niaga's microfinance unit in Indonesia from 15 offices to 100 offices by the end of the year, said Nazir.
On the group's move to get listed in Jakarta, Nazir said: "We are in the process of negotiation with the relevant authorities on how to achieve this."
At the EGM on Monday, its shareholders approved the group's proposal to acquire up to a 19.67% stake in PT Bank CIMB Niaga TBK from Khazanah Nasional Bhd for RM 1.94 billion.
The approved transaction would increase the group's ownership of CIMB Niaga from 78% to potentially 98%, while removing Khazanah's direct stake in the Indonesian subsidiary, said CIMB Group CEO Datuk Nazir Razak.
"Our investments in Indonesia are big as our total equity in CIMB Niaga has been raised from 3.83 billion to 5.77 billion," Nazir said.
"This deal gives us more exposure to Indonesia, which is arguably the most attractive banking market in ASEAN," he told reporters.
He said the country exhibited strong economic fundamentals and its low penetration of banking and less mature capital markets suggested that it was on a path of high growth.
"We are bullish about our growth prospects in Indonesia. By 2015, Indonesia could be our largest profit contributor by country."
On the group's listing in Jakarta, Nazir said: "We are in the process of negotiation with the relevant authorities on how to achieve this."
He added that the group expected an IPO launch in Bangkok by the end of this year.
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