Indosat, the Indonesian telecom and satellite operator, said last week that it is open to all forms of telecoms sector M&A, according to the Jakarta Globe.
The newspaper quoted company CEO Harry Sasongko as saying that the company would consider any…
Indosat, the Indonesian telecom and satellite operator, said last week that it is open to all forms of telecoms sector M&A, according to the Jakarta Globe.
The newspaper quoted company CEO Harry Sasongko as saying that the company would consider any acquisition options, meaning the company could either acquire or be acquired.
Qatari telecoms incumbent Qtel owns 65% – the maximum allowed by Indonesian regulators – of Indosat. In late 2008, it paid US$1.8bn for bought 40.8% of Qtel, and the following year it bought another 24.2% stake for US$810m.
The Indonesian telecom sector is a highly competitive market, with 11 operators fighting for customers in a population of about 237 million, leading to inevitable talk of consolidation.
Elsewhere in the sector, it was reported last month that Indonesian telecom company PT Bakrie Telecom was considering a rights issue as well as merger between its CDMA business and that of domestic rival Telkom.
Earlier this month, Indosat completed a US$650m 10-year senior unsecured bond offering that will be used to fully repay two dollar-denominated notes due 2010 and 2012. As of the end of March 2010, that debt had a total outstanding principal amount of US$342.8m. The company has several other facilities due to mature over the next couple of years, although it has not yet said whether it would seek to refinance all of these. The company has three Indonesian rupee-denominated bonds, one five-year rupee-denominated loan and a dollar-denominated Finnish Export Credit Facility due to mature in 2010 and 2011. Joint bookrunning managers for the sale were Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and RBS.
Indosat could not be reached for comment.
