Danantara unit to merge asset managers in $159m deal

Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara’s unit, PT Danantara Asset Management, signed deals on April 1 to buy the investment management subsidiaries of state-owned banks Mandiri, BRI, and BNI, as well as PT Permodalan Nasional Madani, for a combined 2.7 trillion rupiah, or US$158.8 million, pending regulatory approval.

The transactions, disclosed in stock exchange filings, advance Danantara’s plan to combine the asset management firms into a larger asset manager that could compete in Indonesia and across the region.

President Prabowo Subianto set up Danantara in 2025 to improve the management of state-owned enterprises and reinvest dividends, and it has since injected capital into the nation’s distressed flag carrier and leading steelmaker.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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Implications, context, and why it matters.

This transaction would create a state-owned investment manager with around US$8 billion in AUM

The US$158.8 million deal would form a state-owned investment manager with about US$8 billion in assets under management (AUM), subject to regulatory approval 1.
Mandiri Manajemen Investasi said it led investment managers by mutual fund AUM at end-2017, with 45.4 trillion rupiah (US$2.68 billion) in mutual fund assets 2.
BNI Asset Management ranked in the national top ten, with 24.6 trillion rupiah (US$1.45 billion) as of October 2020 3.
BRI Manajemen Investasi joined Indonesia’s mutual fund industry early, launching in 1992 4.

This deal aligns with Indonesia’s SOE-consolidation push and parallels debates about state influence in other sectors

Danantara has said it wants to combine state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to lift efficiency and market value 1.
Some coverage has raised the prospect of Danantara holding special veto rights, known as a “golden share”, in a possible merger of Grab (a ride-hailing and delivery company) and GoTo (an Indonesian tech group formed from Gojek and Tokopedia) 5. That setup could expand the state’s sway over strategic digital economy assets 5.
It may also pursue regional growth, using offshore hubs such as Mandiri Investment’s Singapore platform to attract foreign investment into Indonesia 6.