Riady: Jakarta bungled in stalling DBS deal
But he says country should be judged by reforms over the past decades
Add BT as a preferred source
Anita Gabriel
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
[SINGAPORE] The chief executive of one of Indonesia's biggest conglomerates, Lippo Group's James Riady admitted that the Indonesian government made a "big mistake" when it stonewalled Singapore bank DBS Group Holdings' S$7.3 billion takeover of Bank Danamon last year.
"Do I agree with what happened? I absolutely do not. I think it sends a wrong message. Once in a while, governments make mistakes and I think this was one big mistake they made," said Mr Riady at a panel discussion at the Asean Business Council (ABC) forum on Tuesday themed "Leadership and transformation in Asean".
Mr Riady was responding to a question on whether protectionistic policies in some Asean member countries, such as the Indonesian government's move to tweak foreign ownership limits in local banks which led DBS to pull the plug on the deal last year, were standing in the way of Asean aspirations to build a single, unified market.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
TRENDING NOW
Autobahn Rent A Car directors declared bankrupt over S$50 million each owed to DBS
Amazon’s MGM Studios gains creative control over ‘James Bond’ franchise
UOB’s Wee Ee Cheong says S$4.9 billion Citi deal ‘paying off’ as Asean push accelerates
In taxing wealth, how far can Singapore push property owners?
