BNI to divest brokerage subsidiary

State bank BNI plans to offload 30% shares in its subsidiary PT BNI Sekuritas in the second half. BNI expects Rp300 billion from the divestment.
BNI also opens the opportunity to divest majority shareholding in the brokerage firm. Other than that, BNI also plans to float PT BNI Life, insurance subsidiary, to the stock market. Next year, BNI plans to acquire one bank with core capital below Rp100 billion.

BNI reported strong performance last year with net profit more than doubled from 2008. But the stock gained only by 1.6% today. The stock surged 227% in the period of March-October 2009. Of course it's almost impossible to get similar gain this year. In fact, BNI has lost 10% since October 2009.

Main concern on this bank is CAR. The 13.7% CAR is too tight for further lending growth, especially to implement Basel II Accord principles.

BNI plans to issue new shares (rights issue) of up to Rp4 trillion to strengthen its capital in the second half. But the State's ownership would dilute if government will not participate in the rights issue.

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