SINGAPORE: The two largest shareholders of PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure are exploring the potential sale of the Jakarta-listed telecommunications company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Private equity firm Provident Capital Indonesia and a subsidiary of investment company PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya have asked banks for proposals on a possible transaction for their stakes, said the people, who asked not to be identified as details are private.
Saratoga’s PT Wahana Anugerah Sejahtera owns 34% of Tower Bersama’s outstanding shares while Provident Capital holds 22%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stakes are worth about 43.5 trillion rupiah ($3 billion ) at Monday’s closing price. Tower Bersama has a market value of about $5.3 billion (RM22bil).
At a valuation of $3 billion, the stake sale if successful would be Indonesia’s second biggest deal in 2021, following the $7.5 billion merger between e-commerce firm PT Tokopedia and ride-hailing and payments company Gojek, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Shares of Tower Bersama pared losses to 1.2% on Tuesday after Bloomberg News’ report. Saratoga shares climbed as much as 6.2%, touching their highest intraday level since June 30.
Deliberations are at an early stage and may not result in a sale of company, said the people. A representative for Tower Bersama declined to comment. A representative for Saratoga Group said they were not aware of the matter. Emails and calls to Provident Capital were not returned.
Founded in 2004, Tower Bersama leases space on telecommunications towers for antennas and other wireless equipment, according to its website. The company reported adjusted net income of about 1 trillion rupiah in 2020, a 17.6% increase from 820 billion rupiah a year earlier.
Provident Capital founding partner Hardi Wijaya Liong is Tower Bersama’s chief executive officer, and Saratoga Group President Commissioner Edwin Soeryadjaya is the president commissioner of the infrastructure firm. - Bloomberg