Danantara Assures No Haphazard Investments, Focuses on Productive Ones
The Investment Management Agency (BPI) Danantara Indonesia has assured that it will not make investments arbitrarily. Deputy Chairman of the Danantara Indonesia Supervisory Board, Muliaman Hadad, stated that Danantara will continue to strive to improve its performance.
He emphasised that Danantara has only been operating for one year. Therefore, it is somewhat unfair to directly compare its performance with those of other countries’ Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), such as Singapore’s Temasek and Malaysia’s Khazanah.
“Danantara has only been around for one year. So Temasek has been around for nearly 47-50 years; comparing these two things isn’t quite fair, so give Danantara time to demonstrate that its good concept is managed professionally and so on,” Muliaman said during the BUMN Research Group Seminar on Thursday (30/4).
Muliaman revealed that Danantara currently has around 500 employees with experience working at various international companies and institutions. According to him, besides the large total assets of state-owned enterprises (BUMNs) and dividends, one key aspect to watch for Danantara is its ability to generate investment returns.
“The first issue is how this can be effective on one side. The second issue, no less important, is how to invest the results of the hard-earned efforts—managed with such difficulty—into something productive,” Muliaman stressed.
Muliaman noted that Danantara currently holds assets of nearly USD 1 trillion; if it can achieve a Return on Assets (ROA) of just 3-5%, the agency could generate substantial capital for further investments.
“If we can allocate that 5% ROA to investments on the right side, it has extraordinary potential to become an additional engine of growth. Therefore, let’s all monitor it together to ensure this mechanism or concept runs well,” Muliaman stated.
Meanwhile, Associate Director of the BUMN Research Group at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia (LM FEB UI), Toto Pranoto, said that Danantara is the world’s fifth-largest SWF, with total managed assets reaching USD 900 billion and a minimum capital of Rp 1,000 trillion. This figure surpasses Temasek, which has total assets of USD 380 billion.
“The figures are already above Temasek in terms of assets. But of course, much of it is still potential that we must execute well soon so that this potential truly becomes a real strength for Danantara’s requirements and investments going forward,” Toto remarked.
Toto stated that BUMN consolidated performance has consistently improved from 2023 to 2024 and into 2025. In 2025, net profit is projected to be in the range of Rp 280 to Rp 332 trillion, with dividend payments to the state reaching Rp 140 trillion.
However, Toto emphasised that a key issue in managing BUMNs in Indonesia is the declining ROA and Return on Equity (ROE) in 2025, by 2% and 7.8% respectively.
“Perhaps what we need to improve further is the return on assets—how we utilise the assets,” Toto stressed.
In comparison to Temasek and Khazanah, Danantara indeed has far larger total assets, at USD 838 billion as of the end of December 2025, while Khazanah has USD 34 billion and Temasek USD 324 billion.
Nevertheless, in terms of net portfolio, Danantara stands at around USD 180 billion, which is less than Temasek’s USD 324 billion but better than Khazanah’s USD 23 billion.
“If we want to look at performance, why can’t we compare directly with Temasek, which is 47 years old, or Khazanah, established since, say, 1993? But some figures can perhaps be shared,” Toto explained.
Additionally, other figures demonstrating that Danantara can compete with neighbouring countries’ SWFs include consolidated profit of USD 19.9 billion in 2024, dividends to the state of USD 8.4 to USD 9 billion in 2025, and an implicit ROE of 9.3% from profit or equity.
“We can say that Danantara’s position already has strong enough capital; it’s just about the ability to generate ROE and dividends. When linked to Danantara or BUMNs compared to Khazanah, we are multiples larger,” Toto asserted.