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State-owned lenders team up to acquire LinkAja
The acquisition will be made through venture capital firms in line with Financial Services Authority (OJK) regulations.
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A user shows the e-money LinkAja platform on her smartphone. (tribunnews.com/File)
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embers of the State-Owned Lenders Association (Himbara) have agreed to team up to acquire PT Fintek Karya Nusantara (Finarya), the operator of digital transaction platform LinkAja.
The acquisition will be made through venture capital firms in line with Financial Services Authority (OJK) Regulation No. 36/POJK.03/2017 on cautious principles in capital injections that prohibit banks from injecting capital into any entity, except financial service institutions.
Only two lenders – PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Mandiri – currently have venture capital firms, namely PT BRI Ventura Investama and PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia.
“We will enter Finarya through BRI Ventura. This year, we will inject Rp 1 trillion [US$ 70.6 million], but for Finarya’s entry, it won’t be that much,” BRI president director Suprajarto said in Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) plan to acquire venture capital firms so they can acquire Finarya.
Shares of Finarya are now owned by mobile phone operator PT Telkomsel, a subsidiary of state-owned communications company PT Telkom Indonesia, but in the future, LinkAja’s stakeholders will inject capital into the company through venture capital firms.
BNI information technology director Dadang Setiadi said the company targeted to acquire a venture capital firm in June, adding that it had prepared Rp 250 billion for the acquisition.
Previously, Bank Mandiri president director Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that to acquire Finarya, Bank Mandiri, BRI, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) had to contribute Rp 300 billion. (bbn)
