INA intensifies call for co-investment partners
Since its founding in 2021, the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), Indonesia’s $10.5 billion sovereign wealth fund, has deployed over $4 billion across multiple strategic sectors.
These allocations have unlocked more than four times this amount from co-investors, including some of the world’s largest sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities, as well as pension funds.
INA
“[We have] partnered with institutions from 14 countries, securing over $25 billion in joint commitments from global investors, such as other sovereign wealth funds," Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja, chief investment officer of INA, told AsianInvestor.
"INA’s mandate to attract foreign direct investment and co-invest alongside global and domestic partners is embedded in its establishing laws and is integral to its mission," he said.
Major co-investors during this period have included the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), China’s $65 billion Silk Road Fund (SRF), Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management (APG), Dubai-based port operator DP World, and Chinese data centre developer GDS.
NEGOTIATING INVESTMENT BARRIERS
Integral to INA's appeal as a partner to some of the world’s largest institutional and sovereign funds has been the willingness of the Indonesian government, as well as public and private companies, to facilitate INA-funded projects, Hadiwidjaja noted.
“This approach is crucial in deploying capital effectively and provide a risk alignment, addressing barriers that often deter international investors," he said.
By leveraging its domestic expertise and networks, INA navigates local market complexities while understanding the perspectives of institutional investors and adhering to global best practices in governance and transparency."
As an example, Hadiwidjaja highlighted INA’s collaboration with GDS to develop a hyperscale data center in Batam, a city in the country’s far west, near Singapore.
“Through this partnership, which aligns with Indonesia’s national digital transformation agenda, INA facilitated our partner to unlock local bottlenecks and open doors for various communication channels with regulators, power providers and other local stakeholders.
“This strategy underscores INA’s role in building trust and creating opportunities for collaborative investments that deliver both financial returns and long-term value for Indonesia,” he said.
The Indonesian government has so far provided a total capital injection of $5 billion to INA, beginning with a $1 billion cash infusion in February 2021, followed by another $1 billion in November.
In December 2021, the government transferred shares of two state-owned enterprises to INA, adding $3 billion to its total assets.
EMERGING CREDIT SECTOR
Over the three months leading up to November, INA struck three co-investment deals within the country’s burgeoning private credit sector, including a joint venture with DB Investment Partners, a Deutsche Bank subsidiary, to invest $1 billion in hybrid capital solutions over the next five years.
This includes partnerships with Allianz Global Investors in September and the Development Bank of Japan in November 2023, along with a significant $1.2 billion deal with Granite Asia for both equity and hybrid capital investments in Indonesian-linked businesses.
The momentum in hybrid capital solutions accelerated with the appointment of Christopher Ganis, former head of private credit for Indonesia at BlackRock, who joined INA in February.
“Our current [and future] partnerships with leading global asset managers are strong testament that global investors have confidence in the overall value proposition of investing in Indonesian businesses,” Christopher Ganis, managing director of hybrid capital solutions at INA, told AsianInvestor at the time.