(7 December 2004 – Indonesia) Indonesia’s finance minister has announced the government will sell a 20 percent stake in Bank Permata this week in order to shore up state coffers.UK’s Standard Chartered currently owns 51 percent of the bank, which is the country’s sixth largest lender; the government owns 46 percent and public investors just three percent.
Standard Chartered cited excellent prospects in consumer banking and the SME sector for its interest in the bank.
Finance minister Jusuf Anwar said his department was continuously monitoring the market to get the best timing and best pricing for the government.
Bank Permata has 310 branches, one million customers and assets of US$3.2 billion.
The bank was created in the late 1990s from five banks merging following the Asian crisis. A consortium between Standard Chartered and Indonesia’s Astra International paid 2.77 trillion rupiah for 51 percent of Bank Permata in October.