Investree Singapore Annexes 18.4 Percent Of Amar Bank's Shares, Control Remains Unchanged

Listing of Bank Amar shares. (Photo: Ist/Maria T. Pongo)

JAKARTA - Investree Singapore Pte Ltd and Tolaram Group have signed a transaction agreement to transfer 18.4 percent of PT Bank Amar Indonesia Tbk (AMAR) shares.

Adrian Gunadi, Director of the Investree Group and Co-Founder and CEO of Investree said, "The Investree Group is very enthusiastic about the huge potential of the Indonesian banking market and the opportunity to encourage financial inclusion in this country.

This is because there are around 92 million adults who are unbanked (unbanked) and 47 million are underbanked (underbanked) in Indonesia, while the MSME segment, which is growing rapidly but is underserved by banks, accounts for around 60 percent of GDP.

"By acquiring a significant minority stake in Amar Bank, the Investree Group believes that its efforts to increase financial inclusion can be accelerated," he said in a statement to the media, Wednesday, May 11.

In particular, through strong synergies with Amar Bank, he said, Investree intends to develop financing products and offer broader digital business solutions to elevate the operational level of MSMEs across the country.

"This initiative is part of creating a cohesive cross-collaboration between fintech and banking as well as jointly innovating products, providing digital financing services and more integrated business solutions, and also expanding outreach to prospective debtors/MSMEs in cities that are part of this initiative. from the Amar Bank network," he explained.

Meanwhile, Tolaram's Managing Director, Fintech & Infrastructure, Navin Nahata said, "We are very pleased to partner with Investree, the leading fintech lending platform in Southeast Asia, to continue to build Amar Bank into a leading digital bank that focuses on the needs of consumers and MSMEs.

“We believe Investree's in-depth knowledge of the local MSME financing space will enable Amar Bank to accelerate its product diversification efforts to serve an important but historically underserved segment of the Indonesian economy. To that end, we look forward to a successful and long-term partnership with Investree,” he said.

In line with the President Director of Amar Bank, Vishal Tulsian who stated that this transaction is a significant step forward for Amar Bank. Even so, the transaction did not change the company's control.

“Investree's involvement and expertise will allow us to introduce new and better products for MSMEs in Indonesia, along with our flagship digital loan product, Tunaiku and mobile-only bank, Smiles. Together, we will deliver digital banking that has an impact," he concluded.