Garibaldi Thohir and Northstar Pacific Take Over 35% of Hutchison Tri

There is surprising news from the telecommunications industry. There was a major change in share ownership in the telecommunications operator Hutchison CP Telecommunications (HCPT) or known as the Tri brand. Two big Indonesian businessmen, namely coal magnate Garibaldi Thohir and Patrick Waluyo from Northstar Pacific Indonesia, are interested in buying a 35% stake previously owned by a Thai company, Charoen Pokphand.

As reported by Jakarta Post, Bhuwan Kulshreshtha, Commercial Head of PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications (HCPT), announced the corporate action in Jakarta last Friday. Kulshreshtha, explained that the new composition of the company's shareholding now consists of 65 percent by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Limited and 35 percent by the group led by Garibaldi. There are no details regarding this corporate action yet, sources from Harian Cash (which brought this event into the headlines) said that the acquisition process had entered the final stage. Including the change of company name from Hutchison CP Telecommunications to PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

The reason for the two conglomerates buying Tri's shares has not yet been disclosed. Kontan daily believes that it is possible to take advantage of the negative investment list (DNI) regulation in the telecommunications sector. In this regulation, foreign companies can only own a maximum of 65% shares in national telecommunications companies. The rest must be released to local companies. What is clear, this acquisition makes business Garibaldi Thohir more and more excited. The man who is also often called Boy is one of the 28 richest people in Indonesia according to Forbes Magazine.

Boy Thohir built a family business with the parent company PT Trinugraha Thohir. Its business is spread across various lines, such as coal mining company Adaro Energy, Trinugraha Food Industri (Hanamasa Restaurant, Pronto Restaurant, meat factory), investment company Surya Eka Perkasa, motorcycle dealer Wahana Makmur Sejati, and Mahaka Media (Republika, Gen FM, Jak TV, Alif TV, King of Tickets).

Meanwhile, Patrick Waluyo, son-in-law of one of the richest people in Indonesia, namely the owner of the Triputra group TP Rachmat, in the middle of last year took most of Trimegah Securities' shares through Northstar's subsidiary, Advance Wealth Finance Ltd. In addition, he also has shares in a number of companies such as oil and gas company PT Samudera Energy, coal mining company PT Delta Dunia Makmur, PT Eqator Securities and PT Adaro Energy.

For Tri, this acquisition will not change his business plan in the telecommunications industry. In fact, this operator is ambitious by setting targets want to be the master of 3G. The target seems too grandiose, because currently, they hold a 10 percent share of the cellular operator market with around 21 million subscribers.

On it, there is still Telkomsel which has 120 million subscribers (50 million data users), Indosat with 55,5 million subscribers (11,1 million data users), and XL Axiata with 42,3 million subscribers (25 million data users). In other words, the three major operators control around 70 percent of the market share. Not to mention the telecommunications industry in Indonesia which has reached saturation point with SIM card circulation exceeding the total population of 240 million.

At least, the injections from Garibaldi Thohir and Northstar gave new blood that made him even more excited. This can also be a source of pride for us because although the portion is not the majority, but part of the shares are owned by Indonesians.