BTN has kick-started its move to acquire a stake in the country's oldest sharia bank, in line with a December announcement by the SOEs Minister on a plan to merge BTN Syariah and Bank Muamalat for finalizing by March.
tate-owned lender BTN has sent a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire a stake in Bank Muamalat, a sharia bank it aims to merge with BTN Syariah, with details of the deal undisclosed.
"Yes, there is a LOI [that was] sent to the Haj Fund Management Agency [BPKH]. Hopefully, everything will go as well as we hope," Bank Muamalat commissioner Andre Mirza Hartawan said on Thursday, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
Government agency BPKH holds 82.66 percent stake in Bank Muamalat, with the remaining shares owned by minority shareholders including Andre and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"We are in a [stake] acquisition process and have sent letters of intent to two targets," BTN president director Nixon LP Napitupulu said separately, as quoted in the same CNBC Indonesia report.
“We have asked to enter the due diligence phase with those targets,” he said, referring to Bank Muamalat and another, unnamed acquisition target.
State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir revealed last month a plan to merge BTN’s sharia banking unit with Bank Muamalat for finalizing in March 2024.
"We have discussed the possibility of synergizing Bank Muamalat and BTN Syariah to establish a bigger, alternative sharia bank [in cooperation] with the BPKH and the religious affairs minister," Erick said on Dec. 19, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
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