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tate-owned BNI plans to divest its 30 percent stake in its securities subsidiary PT BNI Sekuritas Indonesia and to issue right shares despite the bank more than doubling its profits last year.

BNI’s president director Gatot Suwondo said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the bank, which booked more than a 100 percent increase in its net profit last year rising to Rp 2.48 trillion (US$265 million) expected to raise up to Rp 300 billion from the divestment and about Rp 4 trillion from the rights issue.

Gatot said that the securities company divestment and the rights issue would be carried out in the second  half of this year.

“We will continue to be a majority shareholder in BNI Sekuritas, despite the divestment” he was quoted as saying by news portal detik.com.         

Gatot, however, said that he would be ready to negotiate if there are investors willing to become a majority shareholder in the securities company. “If the price is OK, why not,” he added.

Gatot said that BNI expected to raise between Rp 3 trillion and Rp 4 trillion from the rights issue so as to be able to improve its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to at least 15 percent.

“The rights issue is needed so that we will be able to increase the bank’s CAR to 15 percent from 13.7 percent at present,” he said, adding that with the increase in its capital base, BNI would be able to maintain more sustainable growth in its lending.

Gatot said that although the government had given a green light for the rights issue, the bank still needed approval from the House of Representatives (DPR) to go ahead with the plan.

Meanwhile the bank’s finance director Yap Tjay Soen said that besides raising fresh funds from the general public, the rights issue would also enable the company to obtain tax incentives for which publicly listed companies were eligible.

“By increasing the ownership of the investing public in the bank to 40 percent, we will be entitled to a 5 percent reduction in our corporate income tax,” he said.

“This is why the rights issue is one of our main priorities this year,” Yap said.

BNI’s full-year net profit rose to Rp 2.48 trillion in 2009 from 1.22 trillion in 2008.  Net interest income, or revenue from borrowers after deducting interest paid to depositors, rose 12 percent to Rp 11.13 trillion last year from Rp 9.9 trillion a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.

BNI, the country’s third-biggest state-owned bank by assets, said fourth-quarter profit rose 62 percent as fee-based income increased while it had set aside less money to cover possible delinquent loans.

Net income for the three months ending Dec. 31 rose to Rp 630 billion from Rp 390.2 billion a year earlier. In the same period net interest income, or revenue from borrowers after deducting interest paid to depositors, rose 2.5 percent to Rp 2.89 trillion from Rp 2.75 trillion a year earlier.