Sarana Menara Nusantara, operator of cellular towers controlled by Indonesian billionaires R. Budi and Michael Hartono, plans to raise up to 9 trillion rupiah ($586 million) through a rights issue.
Sarana Menara submitted a filing to the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday saying it will seek shareholder approval for a rights issue at a meeting on October 25. The filing said Sarana Menara will issue a prospectus providing details on the use of funds and the offering price, though it did not specify when the prospectus will be released.
But the company said in the filing Tuesday that the money will be used to repay debt of its subsidiary Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) and provide working capital
The company is expanding to meet growing demand for cellular towers driven by the internet boom in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy. In a strategic move, Protelindo’s subsidiary iForte Solusi Infotek acquired a 90% stake in Inti Bangun Sejahtera for 3.4 trillion rupiah in July.
That acquisition will significantly bolster Protelindo’s telecommunications infrastructure, increasing its tower portfolio leased to mobile operators to 34,300 with nearly 58,000 tenancies, while also growing its fiber network to approximately 170,000 km.
Sarana Menara is Indonesia’s second-largest telecommunication tower operator after Dayamitra Telekomunikasi, a state-owned company, which had nearly 39,000 towers as of June. Tower Bersama Infrastructure, backed by billionaire Edwin Soeryadjaya, is the third largest operator with around 23,000 towers.
The Hartono brothers, with a combined net worth of $48 billion, topped Indonesia’s 50 Richest list last December. Their wealth primarily stems from their investment in Bank Central Asia (BCA), which they acquired after the Salim family, another prominent Indonesian dynasty, lost control of the bank during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. The family’s fortunes are rooted in Djarum, a kretek (clove cigarette) company founded by the brothers’ father and now led by Budi’s son, Victor.
The family’s diverse portfolio also includes the popular electronics brand Polytron and prime real estate holdings in Jakarta. Additionally, the brothers control Global Digital Niaga, the parent company of e-commerce giant Blibli, which raised 8 trillion rupiah ($510 million) in Indonesia’s second-largest initial public offering of 2022.
