DBS mum on pursuing Bank Danamon shares

Investors have expressed interest in buying a stake in Bank Danamon from its controlling shareholder.

“The company has received information regarding the interest of investors to buy stake from Asia Financial” the bank said in a filing to the Indonesia Stock Exchange.

Asia Financial, a unit of Temasek Holding, is the controlling shareholder of Bank Danamon.

The sale would value the stake at around Rp 30 trillion or $3.3 billion.

Reuters reported it got information that DBS Group was making a bid for a controlling stake in the lender worth about $3.2 billion from Temasek Holdings, the investment company owned by the city state of Singapore.

Fullerton Financial Holdings, the Temasek unit, confirmed it had received an offer for its 68 percent stake in Danamon, but did not name the bidder.

Sources told Reuters the offer came from DBS, which is also 29 percent owned by Temasek. The sources declined to be named because the talks were not public.

Danamon asked the management of the IDX to suspend trading in the stock trading until Monday because of “the transaction plan.”

Danamon chief executive Henry Ho told Reuters last year that any acquisition for the lender would be valued at no less than 3.5 times book value.

Vera Eve Lim, finance director of Bank Danamon, did not respond to messages and DBS declined to comment.

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