BNP Paribas' insurance arm is in talks to buy a significant minority stake in PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia's life insurer. Industry source claims that BNP Paribas Cardif submitted the highest bid for a stake in PT Asuransi BRI Life. Other bidders including FWD Group, backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, remain interested in acquiring the share.Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the country's oldest lender, had revived earlier this year its plan to sell a stake in its life insurance unit for about US$500 million. A transaction would involve a so-called bancassurance partnership, which allows an insurer to sell its products through the bank's branches.
An agreement could be reached within the next few weeks. Talks are ongoing and the companies could decide against pursuing a transaction.
This would be at least the third attempt by state-owned Bank Rakyat to sell a stake in the insurer. The lender tried to dispose a 40 per cent stake in BRI Life in 2015. At that time, FWD and BNP Paribas Cardif were already among parties vying for the holding.
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