Singapore's DBSGroup has received approval to buy a 40% stake in Indonesia's Bank Danamon, more than a year after it launched a multi-billion dollar takeover bid.
This year's merger between DBSGroup Holdings of Singapore and the Dao Heng Bank of Hong Kong illustrates the high price outsiders are willing to pay for quick entry--3.2 times book.
By this measure, it is bigger than Singapore's DBSGroup and Korea's Kookmin Bank, and has attracted big stakeholders such as the Temasek fund of Singapore (it has 7.6%) and CLSA and Merrill Lynch funds.