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RHB's plan to acquire Mestika hits a wall
RHB Banking Group, Malaysiaâs fourth-largest financial services group, may be forced to withdraw its plan to acquire Indonesiaâs publicly listed lender Bank Mestika Dharma (BBMD) due to an unsolved âreciprocityâ issue between the countriesâ financial regulators
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HB Banking Group, Malaysia's fourth-largest financial services group, may be forced to withdraw its plan to acquire Indonesia's publicly listed lender Bank Mestika Dharma (BBMD) due to an unsolved 'reciprocity' issue between the countries' financial regulators.
Nelson Tampubolon, the Financial Services Authority's (OJK) commissioner in charge of the banking sector, said on Thursday that the OJK had not given its approval to the plan.
The conditional agreement between the RHB and OJK is slated to expire by the end of this month.
Nelson added that the OJK would first like to explore the possibility of providing wider opportunities for Indonesian banks to expand overseas, something that could be realized through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the OJK and its Malaysian counterpart, Bank Negara Malaysia.
'However, we have not reached any agreement regarding the MoU. We want to make sure that both countries will get equal benefits. We don't want to be the only one giving opportunities to them,' he said.
As previously reported, the RHB has expressed its interest in taking over up to a 40 percent stake in Mestika, which is based in Medan, North Sumatra. The takeover is reportedly worth 651 million ringgits (US$202.2 million).
Currently, Mestika is 89.4 percent owned by PT Mestika Benua Mas, 10.5 percent owned by the public and the rest by other minority shareholders.
Mestika president director Achmad Suherman Kartasasmita said that the possible cancellation would not affect the bank's business.
