MANILA - Indonesia's Lippo Group and partners from Hong Kong and Austria are investing some P3 billion ($57 million) to recapitalize a Philippine bank under a deal struck with the Manila government, company officials said yesterday.

Hong Kong-based investment bank AO Capital Partners, Raiffeisen Zentralbank of Austria, as well local investors are part of the Lippo consortium that would inject the fresh funds into the Export and Industry Bank within the next three months, Albert Cheok, representative of the Lippo Group, said.

The deal requires the state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to purchase P10 billion worth of non-performing assets for P3 billion, leaving the lender with a virtually clean slate.

Other bank assets are now subject to a "negotiated sale" with a third party that Cheok would not name.

Export and Industry Bank acquired most of these assets in 2001 when it took over a distressed modest-sized lender, Urban Bank Inc. under a government-sponsored scheme.

When the deal is completed, Lippo and the Filipino group would hold 60 percent of the bank's shares while AO Capital and RZB will hold 30 percent while a group of exporters -- pre-existing shareholders of the bank -- will still hold 10 percent, he said.

Export and Industry Bank president Benjamin Castillo said the transaction should take effect within the next three months.

The recapitalized bank would concentrate on raising its total resources from P28 billion to P50 billion in the next 18 months.

As part of the deal, Cheok said he will leave his post as chairman of the Malaysian unit of Bangkok Bank and will likely become deputy chairman of Export and Industry Bank. A Filipino will likely be named the new chairman.

Cheok conceded that in the global banking scale, the Philippines was "not very significant but we see potential there."*AFP

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