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Cash-tight Waskita construction firm set to divest two toll roads
PT Waskita Toll Road (WTR) will divest 20 percent of Semarang–Batang toll road in Central Java and 35 percent of Cinere–Serpong toll road in Greater Jakarta to PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur.
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Workers install electric cables to power street lights along the Batang-Semarang toll road in Central Java on Monday. The toll road is among nine that construction firm PT Waskita Karya plans to divest this year to raise capital and pay off debt. (The Jakarta Post/Suherdjoko)
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T Waskita Karya, Indonesia’s top state-owned construction firm, is set to sell its shares in two toll roads this year to state-owned infrastructure financier PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) to raise capital and pay off debt.
Waskita, through subsidiary PT Waskita Toll Road (WTR), will sell a 20 percent share in the Semarang–Batang toll road in Central Java and 35 percent share in the Cinere–Serpong toll road in Greater Jakarta. The shares are collectively worth Rp 2.02 trillion (US$138.1 million).
SMI will pay for the two toll roads by disbursing Rp 515 billion in cash and by share swapping its 6.12 percent ownership in WTR worth Rp 1.5 trillion. The transactions are inked under a conditional sale purchase agreement (CSPA) signed on Monday.
In other words, Waskita will gain a larger ownership of WTR and Rp 515 billion in fresh funds while SMI will gain some ownership in the toll roads.
“In this transaction, [Waskita] earns some cash and some shares. On paper, it is a gain, but, what [Waskita] can really use as working capital for upcoming projects, is only the Rp 515 billion in cash,”Artha Sekuritas analyst Dennies Christopher Jordan told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Under the CSPA, SMI will also transfer its remaining 4.5 percent share of WTR valued at Rp 1.14 trillion to Waskita as additional funding for the construction company.
The two toll roads are among nine in total that Waskita plans to divest this year to help improve its finances after booking a Rp 7.38 trillion net loss last year, turning around the previous year’s net profit, as construction projects faced delays amid the pandemic.
