Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the mainland's biggest commercial lender, is close to wrapping up the acquisition of an Indonesian bank in a bid to expand its Asian banking presence.
Jenny Yu, a spokesman for ICBC's Singapore branch, which is representing the head office in the purchase, last night told the South China Morning Post there were a few candidates and due diligence and final reviews were almost completed.
'A deal is expected to be finalised within three months,' Ms Yu said.
ICBC was weighing up various proposals, including the acquisition of a stake of up to 99 per cent in one bank, she said. Another option was to take a lower stake in another bank. Ms Yu declined to reveal the identity of 'the candidates', but said ICBC was interested in small banks.
She denied ICBC was interested in Bank Danamon, Indonesia's fifth-largest lender.
'We are interested in the Indonesian market,' she said. 'But we are not looking at big banks or big transactions. We don't want to get involved so deeply in the Indonesian market.'