First Acquisition in Bank History

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) acquires 82.59% shares of Bank Agris.
Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) acquires 82.59% shares of Bank Agris.

 

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Dian Intan Perkasa (DIP), which is the largest shareholder of Bank Agris, recently signed a conditional stock purchase agreement so that the former acquires the latter’s Bank Agris shares that total 82.59%. Bank Agris is a forex trading bank headquartered in Indonesia.

Once the agreement is finalized through a shareholders’ meeting, Bank Agris becomes the first foreign bank acquired by IBK and IBK becomes the first South Korean state-run bank acquiring a foreign bank. The shareholders’ meeting is scheduled for March 9.

IBK is planning to turn itself into a bank specialized in supporting non-large companies by acquiring one more bank in Indonesia and launch IBK Indonesia in the second half of this year by merging them with each other. The additional acquisition is because of the Indonesian law that limits the maximum shareholding to 40% for each local bank acquisition. The Indonesian financial authorities do not apply this restriction to a foreign bank acquiring two or more local banks and merging them with each other. This is to reduce the number of local banks.

Shinhan Bank entered the Indonesian market ahead of IBK. Shinhan Bank launched Shinhan Indonesia two years ago through the same process.

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