Purchased for more than IDR 9 trillion, Axis is now officially owned by XL Axiata

Long journey storyXL Axiata's acquisition process of Axis finally come to the end of the story. After mutually agreed to sign the purchase, then get approval from the regulator and KPPU, officially today (20/3) XL Axiata announced that it has completed the acquisition agreement for Axis. The announced acquisition value reached US$ 865 million or more than Rp 9 trillion.

As stated in the press release sent to us, the transaction settlement process has ended the process of XL Axiata's acquisition of Axis which began echoed since last year. Now, XL Axiata means that it has fully owned the majority stake in the cellular operator under PT. Axis Telekom Indonesia.

“We are grateful to have reached the finalization stage of the Axis acquisition. With the completion of this acquisition transaction, XL has officially become a shareholder in Axis. We thank and give high appreciation for the support from various parties, especially regulators, shareholders, and consumers of XL and Axis," said Hasnul Suhaimi, President Director of XL Axiata, which was included in the press release.

So where did the huge acquisition funds come from? As disclosed by XL Axiata, his party said that it had received the largest loan from Axiata as XL's shareholder of US$ 500 million. The remaining US$ 365 million was obtained from loans from third parties, namely Bank UOB, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, and Bank DBS.

In this acquisition, Hasnul is optimistic to merge between XL Axiata and Axis will be able to provide better services while embracing more customers throughout Indonesia. He also said that this acquisition also supports the efforts of the regulators in streamlining the number of cellular operators in Indonesia, which are considered too many.

"XL's efforts to acquire and merge with Axis will support the creation of a healthier telecommunications industry and will create multiple effect which is extraordinary for the national economy,” said Hasnul confidently.

This hope may be true. Many consider that the problem of cellular operators in Indonesia lies in the limited allocation of infrastructure, so that the implementation of the latest telecommunications technology such as the 4G LTE network will be difficult to realize if there is no way out. So, it can be said that the steps to merge like what XL Axiata has just done with Axis, this is a pretty appropriate step to take, as long as this acquisition is really intended as stated by Hasnul earlier.