U.S. billionaire scopes possible RI investments

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In a sign of increasing U.S. business confidence in Indonesia's business climate, U.S. billionaire David "Bondo" Bonderman met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono late on Wednesday to explore investment opportunities here.

Bonderman, who flew by private jet to Jakarta for a two-day visit, is the founding partner of Texas Pacific Group (TPG) -- one of the largest U.S. private equity firms with over US$20 billion under its management.

Among the companies and brands owned by TPG are Ducati Motor Holdings, J. Crew Group, Raffles Hotel, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Debenhams Food and Beverage, Burger King, Del Monte Foods, Punch Taverns, Bally and Seagate Technology.

During the one-hour meeting with Susilo at the Presidential Palace, Bonderman, who has a degree in Islamic law, sought an update on the government's economic and legal reforms before his investment firms decided to invest here.

"We are quite serious to explore investment opportunities in Indonesia as we believe (the domestic) investment climate is improving," Newbridge Capital LLC managing director Timothy Dattels told The Jakarta Post after the meeting.

Newbridge is a subsidiary of TPG that focuses in making direct investments in Asia. The firm manages some $2 billion in the region, including an acquisition of Advanced Interconnect Technologies from Indonesian automotive kingpin PT Astra International in 1998.

Dattels said Bonderman was very happy with the efforts taken by Susilo's government to stamp out corruption, improve legal certainty and improve the political and business climates.

When asked if terror attacks over the past four years -- and in particular, the latest to hit the resort island of Bali -- would discourage the group from investing here, Dattels said such incidents were not very concerning as security problems had become a global issue faced by many other countries.

"We are pretty comfortable in Jakarta, in terms of security. It is actually not our utmost concern, as everywhere in the world there are security problems," he said.

TPG through Newbridge has invested in a variety of industries in Asia, including consumer food and beverage, semiconductors, port services, hotel and property management, steel, banking and financial services, software development and telecommunications.

TPG generally seeks opportunities requiring equity investments of between $100 million and $500 million.

However, Dattels said the group would need some time before taking any decision to invest since it was still seeking further equity investment opportunities in certain sectors in the country.

President director of JPMorgan Indonesia Gita Wirjawan, who accompanied Bonderman in meeting Susilo, said the President had conveyed his appreciation of Bonderman for his interest in Indonesia.

"President Susilo said the visit from Bonderman will give a positive signal to other global investors to start seeking investment opportunities in Indonesia as the business climate here is improving," he said.