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Indonesia's MNC Group plans $2b worth of expansions in multiple sectors
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Group Chairman and CEO MNC Group Hary Tanoesoedibj. (Bloomberg/File)
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usiness tycoon and politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a business partner of Donald Trump’s business empire, said on Friday that his diversified conglomerate MNC Group plans to invest Rp 30 trillion (US$2.25 billion) in the next five years to fund expansion in various sectors, including property, financial services and media.
Hary, who attended Trump’s inauguration as United States president in Washington, DC, last month as an invited guest, said the expansion would be funded by a mix of internal and external sources.
“It [the investment] will not only come from our internal cash but also from financial institutions and from joint venture partnerships,” Hary said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in Jakarta.
(Read also: Trump’s Indonesian business partner says he can help with US ties)
Partnering with Trump Hotel Collection, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, the MNC Group is currently working to develop a theme park in Lido, Sukabumi, West Java. The theme park, which will be integrated with a resort, hotel and golf course, is expected to start operation in 2019.
The two companies also plan to upgrade the Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort, which the MNC Group acquired in 2013. Trump Hotel Collection will manage the property, which will be introduced as Trump International Hotel & Tower Bali.
“[The projects are] ongoing. We are focused on finishing those two projects,” Hary said.
Trump has previosuly said that his company would not make any new overseas deals while he serves as president. His two older sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, will take over his business role.
Hary has been making an effort to put his name in Indonesia’s political landscape by setting up his own political party in 2014. He was previously endorsed by Hanura Party as the party’s vice presidential candidate but failed to secure an official nomination for the 2014 presidential election after the party finished in 10th position in the legislative election.
In terms of expansion, Hary said the MNC Group would push one of its media content maker companies to go public this year. The group currently has two production houses, namely MNC Pictures and Dubai-based MNC International Middle East Limited. If combined, the total assets of both companies reach Rp 1.21 trillion.
Meanwhile, in the banking sector, the group plans to acquire a local bank and merge it with MNC Bank. The acquisition is set to be carried out by MNC Group’s financial arm, MNC Kapital Indonesia, which owns 39.2 percent of shares in MNC Bank.
“We are looking to acquire a bank in the BUKU I (core capital below Rp 1 trillion) categroy or BUKU II (core capital between Rp 1 trillion and Rp 5 trillion) category,” MNC Bank president director Benny Purnomo said.
With a wide variety of business portofolios ranging from media to property and mining sectors, MNC Group still pays close attention to the financial service business. The group’s MNC Securities currently operates 78 branches across the archipelago, making it the securities firm with the widest operation network in the country.
Hary is known to have an attachment to securities business, as he started his business empire from that sector.
MNC Securities President Director Susy Meilina said Hary used to single-handedly manage the company after he founded it in 1989 in Surabaya, East Java, under the name of Bhakti Investama.
“He wrote all the reports and met with investors by himself,” she told The Jakarta Post. “He had just graduated from an MBA program in Canada and could not afford to hire assistants, but now, the group has 36,000 employees.”
