Increasingly Contorting, Conglomerate Chairul Tanjung Ready To Buy Bank Bengkulu Shares

Chairul Tanjung conglomerate. (Photo: CT Corp)

JAKARTA - The Chairul Tanjung conglomerate through PT Mega Corpora is one step further to purchase shares in one of the regional development banks, namely PT Bank Bengkulu.

Head of the Corporate Secretary Division of Bank Bengkulu Fanny Irfansyah said that his party had received an official letter of approval for the purchase of the company's shares from Mega Corpora. Next, said Fanny, the stock purchase action was just waiting for the administrative process.

Mega Corpora will deposit funds for the purchase of Bank Bengkulu shares in the not too distant future. Thus, Bank Bengkulu has successfully fulfilled its commitment to reach a core capital of more than IDR 1 trillion to become a BUKU II Bank.

"The official letter of approval for the purchase of shares from PT Mega Corpora has been submitted to Bank Bengkulu. We are currently preparing an administrative process for PT MC to deposit funds for the purchase of Bank Bengkulu shares," he told VOI, Wednesday, November 18.

However, it is not yet known how many shares of Mega Corpora are purchased. The reason is, this will be determined at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) which will be held at the end of November.

The President Commissioner (Komut) of Bank Bengkulu, Ridwan Nurazi, currently lacks capital of around Rp. 134 billion to meet core capital in accordance with OJK regulation number 12 / POJK.03 / 2020 concerning commercial bank consolidation.

"In the following year it must be Rp. 2 trillion, the following year it has to be Rp. 3 trillion. For this alone we are struggling, right, but later there will be a bank business group KUB," he said as quoted by Antara.

Ridwan admitted that his party had made several efforts to fulfill the bank's core capital so that its status could become BUKU II, one of which was by selling series B shares to several large companies in Bengkulu.

In addition, he said, his party has also collaborated with PT Mega Corpora to meet the core capital of Bank Bengkulu. However, the company owned by Chairul Tanjung will disburse its money in several stages.

For the first phase, PT Mega Corpora will buy Bank Bengkulu shares worth IDR 100 billion and the next phase will be distributed in April 2021.

"Next Monday we will hold a general meeting of shareholders (GMS) and there will be determined all kinds, about two or three days after that the money will come in," said Ridwan.

Meanwhile, Mega Corpora is a sub-holding of the financial business of CT Corpora, a business group owned by tycoon Chairul Tanjung. Mega Corpora is the controlling shareholder (PSP) of PT Bank Mega Tbk. Share ownership is 58 percent, while the rest is public shares.

Previously, Mega Corpora also held shares ownership in BPD Sulutgo and BPD Central Sulawesi amounting to 24.90 percent each. If the purchase of Bank Bengkulu shares is realized, this will be the third BPD owned by CT Corpora.

In addition, Mega Corpora recently announced plans to acquire PT Bank Harda Internasional Tbk. (BBHI). In the acquisition, PT Hakimputra Perkasa will sell its 3.08 billion shares in Bank Harda to PT Mega Corpora.