On Wednesday evening Indonesia's parliament finally approved the sale of 51% of Bank Niaga to Commerce Asset Holdings of Malaysia. The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency IBRA will receive Rp1.057 trillion $118 million for a price of Rp26.5 per share.
The price has been something of a sticking point. The House of Representatives Commission IX for financial affairs had last week rejected Commerce Asset's bid and asked IBRA to go back and ask for a price of around Rp30-Rp35 per share. Understandably, Commerce Asset politely explained that as the original bid had been made under a tender, it was binding and therefore Commerce Asset was in no position to increase the size of its offer. The...
