Maybank buys Indonesia’s sixth largest bank

KUALA LUMPUR: A two-year courtship that culminated in a tender bid saw Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) securing a controlling stake in Indonesia’s sixth largest bank by assets, PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk (BII), in a deal that could be worth a whopping RM8.6bil.

This is Maybank’s second attempt at leapfrogging into the Indonesian market after failing to buy a stake in PT Bank Permata Tbk in 2004. This time around it beat competition from HSBC, Bank of China and South Korea’s Kookmin Bank.