The Indonesian government has approved a plan by incumbent PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) to buy back the shares of its mobile unit Telkomsel from Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), according to the Jakarta Post.
State-Owned Enterprises…
The Indonesian government has approved a plan by incumbent PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) to buy back the shares of its mobile unit Telkomsel from Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), according to the Jakarta Post.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar was quoted saying that the government would also approve a share swap between SingTel’s shares in Telkomsel and Telkom’s own shares.
He reportedly added that such a deal would allow Telkom to further expand Telkomsel’s operations but said no discussions have been held yet with Telkom officials on the buyback plan.
Telkomsel is 65%-owned by Telkom, which in turn is majority-held by the Indonesian government, and 35%-controlled by SingTel, the Singapore-based mobile giant.
The Jakarta Post wrote that the government has allocated Rp5 trillion (US$585m) to buy back Telkom shares from the public in order to allow the company to perform the share swap.
But SingTel may not be willing to sell its stake in Telkomsel. In an email to TelecomFinance at the end of June, a SingTel spokesperson said: “SingTel has a good partnership with both Telkom and Telkomsel and we continue to be a long term strategic investor in Indonesia.”
