OUE has announced it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement on Dec 19 to acquire a 17.2% stake in Indonesia-listed Multipolar for IDR1,006 billion ($95.6 million).
OUE is acquiring the stake in Multipolar from Inti Anugerah Pratama (IAP), an Indonesian investment holding company that is 40% held by OUE’s executive chairman and group CEO Stephen Riady. The remaining 60% stake in IAP is held by his brother James Tjahaja Riady, who is also a controlling shareholder of OUE.
According to OUE, Multipolar is a technology investment company with a portfolio that includes retail and e-commerce, consumer services, financial services, technology, multimedia and telecommunications sectors.
Multipolar’s investment companies include digital payment company OVO, beauty and personal care e-commerce platform Sociolla, and technology-enabled education provider Ruangguru. The group’s portfolio also includes stakes in Indonesian listed companies suchas a Matahari Putra Prima, Matahari Department Store, Multipolar Technology, First Media and Bank National Nobu.
As of Dec 17, Multipolar had a market capitalisation of IDR5,270 billion, with IAP owning 55.1% of all the outstanding shares.
The company reported a net profit of IDR88 billion for the nine months ended Sept 30. Multipolar's total assets stood at IDR15.7 trillion as of Sept 30, with net assets of IDR4.7 trillion.
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OUE will acquire some 2.52 billion shares in Multipolar. The purchase price per share represents a premium of 11.1% to the closing price of Multipolar shares on Dec 17 of IDR360. It also represents a marginal premium of 1.4% to the three-month volume weighted average price of IDR394.6.
In its filing to the SGX on Dec 20, OUE states the rationale for the transaction is to expand OUE’s consumer division in Indonesia following the acquisition of approximately 32% interest in Matahari Department Store by Auric Digital Retail, a joint venture company which is 40% owned by OUE, earlier this year.
“The transaction will give OUE the opportunity to participate in Indonesia’s rapidly growing digital economy through Multipolar, whose portfolio businesses sit at the intersection of Indonesia’s technology and consumer sectors. Multipolar, along with GoTo Group, will also be participating in a capital raise by Matahari Putra Prima to provide growth capital to execute MPPA’s omni-channel retail strategy, and strengthen its balance sheet,” the company states.
As at 9.41am, shares in OUE are trading flat at $1.31.
