Four State-Owned Asset Management Companies Merge: Efficiency or New Risks?
Improvements in governance need to be accompanied by clear and transparent measures of success.
ISTIMEWA
By Nina Susilo
08 Jul 2026 15:01 WIB · Ekonomi & Bisnis
The restructuring of state-owned enterprises continues. This time, four state-owned asset management companies are being merged. Without transparency, accountability, and professionalism in their operations, the merger could lead to new problems.
The four merged state-owned asset management companies are PNM Investment Management, BNI Asset Management, Mandiri Investment Management, and BRI Investment Management. This merger means the portfolios of the four state-owned asset management companies are combined into Mandiri Investment Management as a surviving entity, or an entity that remains in existence and continues operations after the merger.
The merger was established in a meeting attended by the Minister of Investment and Downstreaming, who is also the CEO of Danantara, Rosan P Roeslani, the Head of the State-Owned Enterprises Regulatory Agency, Dony Oskaria, and the CIO of Danantara, Pandu Sjahrir, on Tuesday (7/7/2026).
In addition to portfolio consolidation, it is hoped that there will be strengthening of governance capabilities and a more efficient and professional asset management platform.
“Streamlining is not the ultimate goal. What is most important is how the assets of state-owned enterprises that have been organized can be managed more optimally, more productively, and truly create added value for the country,” said Dony in his official statement.
This merger is part of the restructuring of state-owned enterprises (BUMN) carried out throughout 2026. From more than a thousand BUMN, the consolidation of several similar businesses is targeted so that by the end of 2026, the number of BUMN does not exceed three hundred companies.
Dony, after reporting to President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on April 7, 2026, emphasized that the restructuring of state-owned enterprises must be completed by 2026. “Not only on time but also fundamentally completed,” he stated to reporters.
Dony also explained why Danantara Asset Management took over the state-owned enterprise asset management. “This is in order to consolidate four asset management companies that are not yet competitive in scale; we are merging them into one so that we can become competitive,” he said.
Economist and public policy expert from UPN Veteran Jakarta, Achmad Nur Hidayat, believes that the merger of four state-owned enterprises managing investments is not merely a routine corporate action but is related to public trust, the safety of investor funds, and the way the state manages financial assets.
He questioned whether this consolidation would improve governance or merely enlarge a single basket that holds existing risks. Data circulating indicates that the total funds managed by the four state-owned enterprises as of February 2026 reached Rp 132 trillion.
The total consists of BRI Investment Management amounting to Rp 49.79 trillion, Mandiri Investment Management amounting to Rp 44.83 trillion, BNI Asset Management amounting to Rp 32.65 trillion, and PNM Investment Management amounting to Rp 4.82 trillion. This value is equivalent to 18.41 percent of the total funds managed by the entire domestic industry at present.
However, the merging of state-owned enterprises is often not accompanied by clear and transparent success metrics. “Do costs really decrease? Does product performance improve? Are portfolio risks more controlled? Are investors better protected? Without measurable answers, mergers become merely an institutional narrative,” said Achmad.
The problem, Achmad continued, is that the market situation is also not easy. As of June 30, 2026, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) recorded that assets under management in the investment management industry reached Rp 1,011.81 trillion, a 3.14 percent month-on-month decrease. The net asset value of mutual funds was Rp 652.90 trillion, down 4.79 percent, with net redemptions of Rp 23.75 trillion.
At the same time, the number of capital market investors reached 28.96 million investors. This means that the number of investors has increased, but the pressures of confidence and liquidity remain evident. Therefore, the merger of the four state-owned enterprises managing assets must be closely monitored.
“New entities should not become a place to hide problematic portfolios. There must be an independent audit of asset quality, mutual fund products, exposure to debt securities, affiliate transactions, and potential conflicts of interest. Because if a poor portfolio is merely transferred to a new structure, what occurs is not transformation, but rather the obfuscation of risk,” he stated.
Furthermore, Achmad continued, careful management of investor funds and loyalty to the company’s best interests as part of fiduciary duty must be strictly maintained. Investor funds must be managed according to this principle, as they are not discretionary funds that can be diverted to shareholder interests, state-owned enterprise projects, or political agendas.
The problem is, because they are within the state ecosystem, the risk of conflicts of interest is actually greater. He cautioned that these state-owned investment management companies should not become captive buyers of state instruments or state-owned enterprises that are not fully risk-averse.
To that end, the supervision of asset valuation, liquidity, portfolio concentration, and information disclosure must be tightened. “Andantara is also required to present a post-merger roadmap: efficiency targets, integration of risk systems, restrictions on affiliate transactions, an independent investment committee, and periodic performance reports,” he said.
Transparency and accountability are key to the success of the merger. Nur emphasized that the measure of success is not merely the increase in managed funds, but whether this new entity is more transparent, ac