Temasek buys into Matahari
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Temasek's indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Anderson Investments, has invested US$300 million (Bt8.9 billion) in exchangeable rights. These rights can in turn be exchanged for a 26.1 per cent effective stake in PT Matahari Putra Prima, the second-largest
Matahari runs the Hypermart brand chain of stores across the country and is also in the mini-market business with a brand called Bigmart.
The transaction with Temasek was unveiled in an Indonesia Stock Exchange announcement by PT Multipolar, Matahari’s controlling shareholder. A unit of Multipolar will issue the exchangeable rights to Temasek.
A Temasek spokesman confirmed the contents of Multipolar's stock exchange disclosure.
Reuters reported that if the deal were successful, Temasek would have beaten global retailers such as Walmart. These have been trying to buy into the company over the last few years.
Multipolar is controlled by the Riady family’s Lippo Group.
“It’s a win-win deal for Temasek and Lippo,” Sucorinvest Asset Management equity fund manager Jemmy Paul was quoted as saying.
“Temasek finds consumer exposure in Indonesia given the hypermarket growth story, while Lippo is able to find a strong partner,” added the Jakarta-based fund manager.
Strong domestic spending helped Indonesia’s economy to grow by an estimated 6.3 per cent last year despite the global slowdown.
