PT BRIngin Life Indonesia

 PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the country’s most profitable lender, has cancelled the sale process for a 40 per cent stake in its life insurance arm.

The state-controlled bank will try to boost the business’s value internally before any future sale, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li’s FWD Group, South Korea’s Hanwha Life Insurance Co and BNP Paribas Cardif were vying for the holding, valued at US$400 million to US$500 million (RM1.7 billion to RM2.19 billion), in an auction process that started nearly a year ago.

Indonesian companies were involved in US$3.7 billion of acquisitions last year, down 64 per cent from 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bank Rakyat unit, known as BRIngin Life, sells products through the lender’s 10,000 outlets across Indonesia.

 The state lender agreed to take direct ownership of BRIngin Life from its pension fund last year in preparation for the introduction of a foreign partner. It shortlisted bidders in July and initially planned to choose a winner in September, people with knowledge of the matter said previously.

Bank Rakyat told bidders it may restart the sale in the future, the people said. The life insurance unit, whose full name is PT Asuransi Jiwa Bringin Jiwa Sejahtera, increased its net income 76 per cent in 2014 to 410.4 billion rupiah (RM129.4 million).