By Eveline Danubrata and Saeed Azhar
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd has hired Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs to handle a share sale in Indonesian internet service provider PT Link Net Tbk, which could raise at least $500 million, people familiar with the matter said.
This would be CVC's biggest share sale in Indonesia since March 2013 when the private equity firm and PT Multipolar Tbk raised around $1.3 billion by selling part of their stake in Indonesian retail giant PT Matahari Department Store Tbk.
CVC owned 49 percent of Link Net as of June 2 through Asia Link Dewa Pte Ltd, according to Thomson Reuters data. PT First Media Tbk, the media arm of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group, held 41 percent and the remaining 10 percent is in public hands.
"It is easily more than $500 million," one of the people said about the potential Link Net deal size. The sector offers attractive growth and limited capital expenditure, another person said.
Link Net, which made a strong trading debut on the Jakarta stock exchange last month, plans to aggressively expand its fibre optic network in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Its shares nearly quadrupled from their initial public offering price of 1,600 rupiah ($0.13).
Link Net competes with PT Centratama Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk and a unit of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk.
Indonesia is estimated to have 46.75 million internet users this year, representing 18.7 percent of the population, according to market research firm Euromonitor International. By 2017, that is projected to increase to 62.8 million or 24.5 percent of the population.
CVC was not immediately available to comment. Spokespeople for Credit Suisse, Deutsche and Goldman declined to comment.
