Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) looking to sell its stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia, Bloomberg reported citing sources privy to the matter.
The Australian bank has initiated preliminary talks with parties including banks and business leaders in Indonesia, they said.
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ANZ holds a nearly 39% stake in the Indonesian bank, also known as Panin Bank.
Based on Panin Bank’s share price, which has more than doubled in 2022 so far, the Asian bank is valued at around $2.6bn and ANZ’s stake in it is worth around $1bn.
ANZ’s latest efforts to sell the stake in the Indonesian bank come after multiple failed attempts in the past decade.
In the past, ANZ had held talks with Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group after the Australian watchdogs asked banks in 2013 to subtract the entire value of overseas minority investments from Tier 1 capital.
A source aware of the discussions said that in 2018 ANZ hired Morgan Stanley to help find a buyer.
The latest talks are at an early stage and a deal may or may not materialise, they added.
In response to the publication’s query, Panin Bank chief executive Herwidayatmo said that divesting a stake is the right of shareholders and the bank’s management has not received any information on the matter.
The Melbourne-based bank first acquired a stake in Panin Bank in 1999 and increased it to over 38% a decade later.
As per the report, Indonesia’s Gunawan family, which controls 46% of the southeast Asian bank, has been reluctant to give a board seat to an incoming investor stalling ANZ’s earlier efforts to sell its stake.
