PT Bank Mutiara Tbk, which was rescued by the Indonesian government after it nearly collapsed in 2008, has attracted interest from 18 local and foreign investors, a report says.

PT Bank Mutiara Tbk, which was rescued by the Indonesian government after it nearly collapsed in 2008, has attracted interest from 18 local and foreign investors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Samsu Adi Nugroho, an official at the state Deposit Insurance Agency, which is overseeing the sale of the government's 99.9 per cent stake in the bank, told the publication that foreign investors from the Middle East to Japan have expressed interest in buying the bank.

The bank, with market value of almost $500 million, nearly collapsed during the financial crisis.

If a deal goes ahead and is successful, it could signal more positive times ahead for Indonesia’s banking industry, which is still relatively undeveloped but could prosper on the back of a rising and affluent middle class in the populous Asian nation. As the WSJ article points out, foreign-based banks are currently not allowed to buy more than a 40 per cent stake in domestic Indonesia-based banks.

A sale effort would be the fifth time since 2011 that the government has tried to sell off the bank. A stumbling block has been a rule saying that the government could not sell the bank for less than it had paid for it - $750. That rule has now been removed. A tiny slice of the bank’s shares have been placed on the Indonesia stock exchange.

State-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia chief executive Sofyan Basyir was quoted saying that his bank has put in a bid for Mutiara.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group bought a 40 per cent stake in Indonesian lender PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional last year.