Macquarie buys into Provident, Saratoga-owned digital infra platform
A consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has paid USD 610m for a minority stake in a Southeast Asia-focused digital infrastructure platform controlled by Provident Capital and Saratoga Capital.
The platform, called Bersama Digital Infrastructure Asia, holds Provident and Saratoga’s 62.4% interest in Tower Bersama Infrastructure, one of Indonesia’s leading independent telecom tower operators. Macquarie will also work with the private equity firms on new opportunities in areas such as telecom towers, fibre, and data centres.
The investment values Tower Bersama at more than USD 6.5bn, making it one of the largest foreign investments to date in Indonesian digital infrastructure, according to a statement. The Jakarta-listed company had a market capitalisation of approximately IDR 64trn (USD 4.4bn) as of May 11.
Provident and Saratoga have a history of collaboration. Provident claims that its founders were responsible for the establishment of Towers Bersama; one of them, Hardi Wijaya Liong, currently serves as CEO. Both the private equity firm and the telecom tower operator were formed in 2004. Saratoga, formed in 1998, was also an early investor in Tower Bersama. The company listed in 2010.
AVCJ Research has records of two private equity investments in Tower Bersama: Saratoga, acting through its second fund, committed USD 15m in 2010; and Provident put in USD 120m in 2013.
Saratoga’s 35.85% interest in the company is held by Saratoga Investama Sedaya (SIS), which initially contained legacy assets of the private equity firm’s founders that predated the introduction of institutional funds. SIS listed in 2013 and is now positioned as an active investor in energy, metals, technology infrastructure, and healthcare. It has USD 3bn in assets under management.
Portfolio companies include Provident Growth Fund, which was established by Provident to make technology investments in Southeast Asia, and Provident Agro, a palm oil-focused joint venture established with Provident.
Tower Bersama had 20,578 towers and 39,088 tenancies as of December 2021. It generated IDR 6.2bn in revenue for the year, up from IDR 5.3bn in 2020. Over the same period, net profit rose from IDR 1.01bn to IDR 1.55bn.
“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,” said Michael Soeryadjaya, president director of Saratoga.
“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.”
MAM, which has more than USD 545bn under management globally, is investing through its Asia Pacific infrastructure fund series. It is currently deploying its third fund.
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