Indonesia's BNI Securities eyes IPO- Report

Jakarta, May 1: PT BNI Securities, the securities arm of Indonesia's third largest lender, plans an IPO to raise 500 billion rupiah ( million), local media reported on Monday.

Bisnis Indonesia newspaper said the share sale was expected in the second half of this year at the latest and a foreign institution was expected to underwrite the initial public offering.

''Today we have got a conformation of the full commitment of an overseas investment bank to underwrite the IPO of BNI Securities,'' the firm's corporate finance director, Umar Laksana, told the paper without naming the bank.

BNI Securities is almost completely controlled by state-run PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk .

As of the end of 2004, the company's total assets stood at around 353 billion rupiah. It posted a net profit of 49.78 billion that year.

Reuters