A consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management ("MAM"), via Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 3, has acquired a significant minority stake in Bersama Digital Infrastructure Asia Pte. Ltd. ("Bersama Digital Infrastructure") for ~$US610 million.
Bersama Digital Infrastructure is a Southeast Asian regional digital infrastructure platform controlled by Provident Capital ("Provident") and PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk. ("Saratoga"). The MAM consortium will invest alongside Provident and Saratoga to support Bersama Digital Infrastructure in pursuing investment opportunities in the digital infrastructure sector particularly focused on telecommunication towers, fibre and data centres in this high growth region.
As at the date of this announcement, Bersama Digital Infrastructure holds a 62.4 per cent stake in PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure Tbk. ("Tower Bersama"), a leading independent telecom towers business in Indonesia with over 20,500 towers and 39,000 tenancies as at 31 December 2021. This transaction implies an enterprise value for Tower Bersama of more than $US6.5 billion and is one of the largest foreign investments into the Indonesian digital infrastructure sector.
Winato Kartono, one of the founders of Provident said: "We are pleased to work with MAM, who has a strong global track record of investing in digital infrastructure. We look forward to working with MAM to build upon the success of Tower Bersama to create a leading regional digital infrastructure platform. In particular, we look forward to leveraging MAM's market-leading approach to ESG and sustainability."
Michael Soeryadjaya, President Director of Saratoga said: "The Indonesian economy has been remarkably resilient over the last few years which has been partly driven by the explosion of e-commerce activities, penetration of mobile usage, and robust increase in data consumption. We expect investment in digital infrastructure to accelerate further in the near future. We believe that working together with MAM will leverage the strengths of each of the investors in Bersama Digital Infrastructure, and will enable us to grow Bersama Digital Infrastructure into a leading digital investment platform in the region."
Verena Lim, Head of Investments for Macquarie Asset Management's Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund series said: "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. We are very pleased to commence this journey with Provident and Saratoga, both of whom have an exceptionally strong track record in investing and building market-leading businesses in Indonesia. We look forward to supporting and funding the future growth of Bersama Digital Infrastructure."
