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Macquarie-led group gains $610m stake in Bersama Digital Infrastructure
Macquarie says it finds Southeast Asia's digital infrastructure sector "very attractive", considering the "exponential growth" in the region's digital economy.
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Technicians work on a telecommunications tower on Dec. 21, 2016 in Menteng, Central Jakarta. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has announced a US$610 million (Rp 8.85 trillion) investment to acquire a minority stake in Bersama Digital Infrastructure Asia Pte. Ltd. through Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 3.
Bersama Digital Infrastructure, which is controlled by Indonesian investment firms Provident Capital and publicly listed Saratoga Investama Sedaya, focuses on providing telecommunications towers, fiber optic and data centers in Southeast Asia.
Bersama Digital Infrastructure’s portfolio includes a 62.4 percent stake in publicly listed PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure, which had over 20,500 telecommunications towers and 39,000 tenancies as of 2021 and is valued at $6.5 billion.
“We expect investment in digital infrastructure to accelerate further in the near future,” Saratoga president director Michael Soeryadjaya said in a statement on Wednesday. “We believe that working together with MAM will leverage the strengths of each of the investors in Bersama Digital Infrastructure.”
Read also: Indonesia’s internet economy to reach $70 billion in 2021
Indonesia has seen an explosion in its e-commerce sector as well as other digital sectors as it sees a significant nationwide increase in mobile penetration and data consumption.
Michael expected this trend to continue in the coming years: “We expect investment in digital infrastructure to accelerate further.”
The e-Conomy SEA Report 2021 by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Co. projected Indonesia's internet economy to reach $70 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2021, up 49 percent from $47 billion in 2020, to become the biggest digital economy in Southeast Asia.
Read also: Yearender 2021 Indonesia’s digital economy got bigger not necessarily better
Verena Lim, head of investments at MAM’s Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund, said the company was interested in the region's digital infrastructure sector.
“We consider the Southeast Asia digital infrastructure sector to be very attractive, given the exponential growth of data consumption and significant capital requirements for infrastructure to keep pace with demand,” Lim said in a statement on Wednesday.
Provident Capital cofounder Winato Kartono also said on Wednesday that the firm was pleased to work with MAM, which had a strong global track record of digital infrastructure investments.
“In particular, we look forward to leveraging MAM’s market-leading approach to ESG [environmental, social and governance] and sustainability,” he said.
