Acquisition

Standard Chartered PLC
14 October 2004



   STANDARD CHARTERED PLC and PT ASTRA INTERNATIONAL Tbk ACQUIRE CONTROLLING
                      INTEREST IN INDONESIA'S BANK PERMATA

The consortium of Standard Chartered PLC and PT Astra International Tbk (Astra)
has today, 14 October 2004, signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire a
controlling interest of 51% in PT Bank Permata Tbk (Bank Permata) from the
Indonesian Government's State-owned Asset Management Company, PT Perusahaan
Pengelola Aset ('PPA').

Bank Permata is one of the largest banks in Indonesia by assets and branches. It
has 310 branches, a million customers and assets of US$3.3 billion.

It is the final auction of a majority stake in an Indonesian bank by the
Indonesian Government.

The Standard Chartered and Astra consortium is constituted under the terms of an
agreement, which results in both Standard Chartered and Astra now owning a 25.5%
stake each in Bank Permata. The 25.5% stake of Standard Chartered will cost
Indonesian Rupiah 1,388,071,468,330 (approximately US$152.28m based on current
exchange rate).

The acquisition is expected to be completed during November 2004, and will be
financed from existing cash resources.

Notes to Editors

Astra was founded in 1957 as a trading company based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and
was initially involved in agriculture. It has since expanded its businesses to
be one of the largest diversified companies in Indonesia with six business
divisions including automotive, retail financial services, agribusiness, heavy
equipment, information technology and infrastructure. Astra became a publicly
listed company on 4 April 1990 when it listed its shares on the Jakarta Stock
Exchange and the Surabaya Stock Exchange. Astra's current market capitalisation
is approximately US$3.4 billion and employs over 95,000 people throughout
Indonesia.

Standard Chartered - leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in over 500 locations in more than 50
countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the
United Kingdom and the Americas. It is one of the world's most international
banks, with a management team comprising 70 nationalities.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock
Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by market
capitalisation.

It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking
provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth
management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises.
Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in
trade finance, cash management, lending, securities services, foreign exchange,
debt capital markets and corporate finance.


Standard Chartered is well established in growth markets and aims to be the
right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with
global capability. In Indonesia, Standard Chartered is one of the largest and
oldest international banks. Established in 1863, Standard Chartered today has 12
branches and offices in 5 major cities with 1,000 staff serving over 100,000
customers across Indonesia. Standard Chartered is also the largest foreign
provider of trade and treasury facilities to Indonesian banks. It continued to
provide these facilities through the height of Indonesia's political and
economic crisis in 1998.

The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and its
commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it operates.

For further information, please contact:

Paul Marriage, Head of Corporate Communications

Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

Wong Ai-kwei, Regional Head Corporate Affairs, SE Asia

Tel: [phone]; [e-mail]

Regina Seow, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs

Tel: [phone]; [e-mail]


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange