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tate owned workers’ insurance company Jamsostek has decided to buy shares in BNI and Bank Mandiri after it failed to receive government approval to acquire a 30 percent stake in Bank Bukopin, the company’s senior executive has said.

Jamsostek’s president director Hotbonar Sinaga said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the state social insurance company had allocated about Rp 500 billion (US$56 million) to purchase BNI’s rights shares which would be offered later this year.

In addition, Jamsostek would also buy rights shares to be issued by Bank Mandiri in February next year, he said. But he did not reveal the amount of funds to be allocated to purchase Mandiri shares.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar told the pension fund last Friday to back off from its bid to buy up to 30 percent of the shares in mid-sized lender Bank Bukopin as part of a plan to pave the way for BRI to acquire a majority stake in Bukopin.

Mustafa later said that he needed to discuss the matter first with both Jamsostek and BRI before making a final decision.

If the government finally decided to name BRI as the buyer of Bukopin’s shares, it would not be a problem for Jamsostek because it could then make use the funds already allocated for Bukopin to buy BNI and Mandiri shares to help bring these plans to reality.

Jamsostek previously said it planned to allocate up to Rp 800 billion to buy up to 30 percent of Bukopin’s shares.

BNI is scheduled to launch the bank’s Rp 10 trillion rights issue before the end of this year, while Mandiri will carry out its Rp 14 trillion rights in February, next year. BNI and Mandiri, both state banks, initially planned to issue their rights shares later this month before the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry stepped in and asked Mandiri to delay its rights issues until February.

According to Hotbonar, Jamsostek’s plan to buy these shares in the banks was intended to help upscale its customers’ welfare. “If we could not do it with Bukopin, we will do it with other banks,” he added.

Hotbonar clarified that Jamsostek had secured an initial agreement with Bukopin to buy the latter’s 30 percent stake. “We had an informal deal with Bukopin, but not a binding one. But, we have accepted the government’s decision, and expect Bukopin management and shareholders to accept it,” he said.

The government as the majority stakeholder of all state firms, has decided to let state-owned BRI acquire a majority stake in Bukopin.

To comply with the single presence policy banking regulation imposed by the central bank, BRI would then have to merge Bukopin with a recent acquisition — Bank Agroniaga, a mid-sized bank which it acquired in August of this year.

Hotbonar said that the government’s decision to ask Jamsostek to pull back from acquiring Bukopin shares has resulted in a shift of Jamsostek funds to other investments. Bukopin shares (BBKP) have risen in value by about 90 percent so far in 2010, in the context of the moves to sell its shares, outperforming the 40 percent increase in the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) this year.

BBKP was traded at Rp 740 per share up to Wednesday’s close, unchanged from a day earlier. Bukopin’s total market capitalization is more than Rp 4.5 trillion. (est)