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State pension fund PT Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja said on Friday that it has allocated up to Rp 1 trillion ($108 million) to acquire majority ownership in a bank this year as part of its plan to set up a holding company by 2012.

Elvyn G Masassya, Jamsostek’s investment director, said one of the banks it was looking at was PT Bank Bukopin.

“Bank Bukopin is one of the potential banks that we’re currently reviewing,” he said.

The pension fund, also known as Jamsostek, already owns 9.42 percent of Bank Bukopin’s Shariah unit, PT Bank Bukopin Syariah. In February, it said it was going to buy an additional 42 percent of the Shariah unit to give it majority ownership.

However, Elvyn said on Friday that Jamsostek was looking at a number of options, including majority ownership of Bank Bukopin Syariah, majority ownership of the entire Bank Bukopin or majority ownership of another bank.

While Rp 1 trillion had been allocated toward an acquisition, Jamsostek would not necessarily spend that much, Elvyn said. “How much of the funds we will use will depend on our feasibility study,” he said.

Jamsostek’s plans will potentially put it into competition with state-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia, which has previously said it is interested in acquiring Bank Bukopin.

However, a highly placed source in the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry told the Jakarta Globe that BRI has already told the government it will pull out from the race to buy Bank Bukopin if the government gives its blessing to Jamsostek to acquire the bank.

Jamsostek president director Hotbonar Sinaga has said that any bank that Jamsostek acquires will be transformed into a “workers bank” that would offer “one-stop” services to Jamsostek’s 8.4 million members, including social security payments, wealth management and loans.

Elvyn said Jamsostek’s plan to set up a holding company by 2012 with five subsidiaries in the banking, health care, asset and service management, investment and reinsurance sectors was aimed at creating synergies between the companies.