Sinar Mas Group Disburses 2,8 Trillion Rupiah, Ready to Become a Controlling Shareholder in DANA

One of the Indonesian conglomerate groups, Sinar Mas, through its subsidiary PT Dian Swastika Sentosa Tbk officially announced an investment plan worth $200 million or more than 2,8 trillion Rupiah to PT Elang Andalan Nusantara, the parent company of the DANA startup. This was conveyed in the information disclosure of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Tuesday (1/3).

This investment plan is said to be part of the digital business development collaboration between the two companies. This strategic collaboration is expected to have a positive impact on the development of the digital ecosystem owned by the Company and various stakeholders.

The signing of the investment agreement was carried out on February 28. While the completion will depend on the fulfillment of the preliminary conditions as stipulated in the equity participation agreement, including approval from the relevant competent authorities.

Rumors related to Sinar Mas' acquisition of DANA have been widely reported since the end of 2021. After the completion of this corporate action, DSST will become one of the largest shareholders in DANA.

Currently, DANA is still owned by PT Elang Andalan Nusantara (EAN), with Emtek still the main investor with a 49 percent stake. While the remaining 45 percent is owned by Ant Financial through API Investment Ltd. As known, in April 2021, Emtek Group (Emtek) revealed that it is no longer the controlling shareholder for EAN.

This investment plan strengthens the commitment of the Sinar Mas Group to enter the digital industry. Not long ago, the company also invested in a startup that developed an AI-based document processing technology from Singapore, 6Estates.

DANA trip

Since starting operations at the end of 2018, the digital wallet application or payment Dana claims to have recorded a growth in the number of users by 90 percent to reach 100 million users throughout Indonesia. There are recorded more than 350 million total transactions using the Send Money feature with an average of 30 million transactions per month.

In support of MSMEs, the Fund has also accumulated more than 400.000 MSMEs who are increasingly confident in doing business digitally thanks to easy verification. Earlier this year, Dana also collaborated with the Regional National Crafts Council (Dekranasda) Pontianak, West Kalimantan to help digitize and develop MSMEs in the area.

Currently, the company is still trying to expand the scope of collaboration by adding a number of new partners such as BPJS Employment, Secure Parking, and WeTV. This is done in order to develop features that are increasingly able to meet the various needs of the community, ranging from financial needs to entertainment.