Panin stake on the market

Ian Rogers
The Gunawan family, which controls 46 percent of Indonesia's PT Bank Panin, is seeking buyers for its entire holding worth about US$1.4 billion, Reuters reported. UBS is advising the family on the sale of its stake.

One likely buyer - though by no means certain - is ANZ. The Australian bank owns 36 per cent of Panin.

Westpac forged the original relationship with Panin and the Gunawan family in 1992, though Westpac opted to sell the minority Panin stake, and a controlling stake in the much smaller and separate Westpac Panin business, to ANZ in 1994 following the Asian financial crisis.

ANZ lifted its stake in Panin to 30 per cent in 1998 and to 36 per cent in 2008.

While ANZ may be presumed to be the logical buyer it is less clear that the Gunawan family will readily sell to ANZ, and the protocols of Indonesia's business plutocrats suggest that the family will be scouting for another buyer.

It may even suit ANZ to sell its own stake to another buyer. ANZ has invested steadily in ANZ Panin over recent years and in the last couple of months ANZ lifted its stake in ANZ Panin to 99 per cent.