【英语国际】全球私募基金重新聚集印尼

Private-equity firms are setting their sights on one of the world's most promising, but complicated, emerging markets: Indonesia.

Northstar Pacific Partners, a local partner of investor TPG Capital, raised $800 million last year to invest in Indonesian companies. Other big names, like Starwood Capital Group and KKR & Co. (KKR), are circling in search of deals, according to people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, less globally known Indonesian private-equity firms are looking to raise more than $1 billion this year.

The archipelago nation for years was considered a backwater for private-equity deals, especially after investors got burned in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, which left Indonesia in a tailspin and sent foreign capital running for the exits.

'Back when we were first raising funds in 2005 and 2006, no one wanted to hear about Indonesia,' said Sandiaga Uno, a founding partner of one of Indonesia's first private-equity funds, Saratoga Capital. 'But now it feels like Indonesia is the center of the world.'

The fund, which manages $3 billion in assets in Indonesia, currently is trying to raise another $400 million to invest in the country. Mr. Uno declined to disclose how much money the latest fund has raised so far.

While there are still high hurdles to finding investments and closing deals in Indonesia, including a confusing regulatory environment, a history of corruption and the fact that family-run conglomerates control most of the biggest companies, the country's rapid growth has meant more funds are willing to try.

There were close to $650 million of private-equity deals in Indonesia announced in 2011, according to Dealogic. While that amount is lower than the previous year--when CVC Capital Partners, one of the world's largest private-equity firms, purchased Matahari Putra Prima's department stores for nearly $800 million-there is enough new private-equity money in Indonesia to generate more than $1 billion in deals per year for the next few years, analysts and investors say.

With a newly stable government, vast natural resources and the world's fourth-largest population behind China, India and the U.S., the Southeast Asian nation is starting to attract more of the long-term investments in companies, factories and roads it needs to keep its economy growing and its young populace employed.

Indonesia's benchmark stock index is up 13% over the past 12 months, as Indian and Chinese stocks have declined. A record $20 billion in foreign direct investment in the auto, telecommunications, mining and other industries landed in the archipelago in 2011. Indonesia last year recorded its biggest economic expansion in 15 years, at 6.5%. Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service recently upgraded the country to investment-grade status, putting it back on the radar of many risk-averse investors.

While KKR doesn't have an Indonesia-only fund and has yet to close a deal there, last fall the firm hired Ridha Wirakusumah, an Ohio University-educated banker, to scout for investments in Indonesia. He formerly worked as president director at PT Bank Internasional Indonesia and as the Asian-Pacific head of American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) consumer-finance group.

'We believe many Indonesian companies are well-positioned to grow domestically as well as to enter into international markets and are looking for a partner to support their growth-both in terms of capital and in providing access to international best practices to help them become more competitive,' said Ming Lu, who heads KKR's business in Southeast Asia.

Not all private-equity firms have had success looking for deals in and around Indonesia. Carlyle Group's Southeast Asia head Anand Balasubrahmanyan recently left after more than four years at the company, as the firm failed to close significant deals in the region. Indeed, a significant question for investors in Indonesia is whether they can find enough deals to justify their efforts.

While there is little doubt that much of the Indonesian economy needs more capital, most of Indonesia's top companies are controlled by either the government or rich local families. Privatizations often get delayed and are sometimes complicated by political bickering, while most of the families that control the country's biggest companies don't need outside capital or are unwilling to share control.

Of the deals that are on the table, many still seem too risky for investors without the right connections and knowledge, given Indonesia's long-standing reputation for corruption and opaque legal systems. Indonesia recently ranked 100th out of 183 countries measured in an annual corruption survey by anti-graft organization Transparency International.

Indonesia's complex regulatory environment also makes it tough to place large bets on the country with confidence.

'No matter how much capital and expertise firms may have, this has been a difficult market to crack,' said Chad Holm, chief executive officer of Yawadwipa, a new private-equity firm backed by Indonesian and international investors. The firm plans to raise a $1 billion private-equity fund for Indonesian deals. Mr. Holm declined to say how much money the fund has raised so far.

Deal size is another factor holding back the big players. Firms like KKR prefer to spend more than $500 million on deals, analysts say, while most Indonesian entrepreneurs need less than $50 million.

'We think there is much more value in the minority, midsize deal space,' said Brian O'Connor, a Lehman Brothers veteran who is raising a $200 million fund with his two partners at a new Indonesia-focused private-equity firm called Falcon House. The firm, which has secured anchor investors and expects to close the fund by year end, plans to invest in the Indonesian consumer industry.

Investors on the ground from international firms say that Indonesia's mining, consumer, infrastructure and finance sectors are particularly promising--and in need of capital.

私募股权投资公司正在将目光投向全球最有前景、但也十分复杂的新兴市场之一：印度尼西亚。

私募股权投资公司德太投资(TPG Capital)在印尼当地的合作伙伴Northstar Pacific Partners去年募集了8亿美元用于投资印尼企业。据知情人士透露，Starwood Capital Group和KKR & Co.等知名私募基金也在印尼搜寻交易机会。

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images过去12个月内，印尼基准股指上涨了13%，相比之下，同期印度和中国股市却在下跌。与此同时，全球知名度较低的印尼私募基金今年也在试图募集超过10亿美元的资金。

印尼是一个群岛国家。多年来，这里被认为是私募股权投资交易的“穷乡僻壤”，尤其是上世纪90年代末发生的亚洲金融危机所造成的余波曾令投资者损失惨重。危机令印尼经济失控，同时外国资本也纷纷出逃。

Saratoga Capital是印尼首批成立的私募股权投资基金之一，创始人乌诺(Sandiaga Uno)说，我们在2005年和2006年首次募集资金时，没有人对印尼感兴趣；但现在我的感觉是，印尼已经成了世界的中心。

Saratoga Capital在印尼管理的资产规模达30亿美元，该基金目前正试图募集4亿美元，以便在印尼投资。乌诺拒绝透露到目前为止这只新成立的基金已经募集了多少钱。

虽然目前在印尼想要找到投资对象并达成交易还面临诸多重大障碍，比如监管环境不透明、腐败现象由来已久以及大型家族综合企业控制着大多数最大的公司等。但该国经济正在快速增长，有更多的基金愿意做出尝试。

相关阅读

Dealogic的数据表明，印尼2011年宣布的私募股权投资交易规模接近6.5亿美元。虽然这一数字比2010年要低（因为2010年全球最大的私募股权投资公司之一CVC Capital Partners斥资近8亿美元收购了印尼零售商Matahari Putra Prima旗下的百货公司。），但分析师和投资者说，未来几年，以私募股权投资方式进入印尼的新资金足以让每年的交易规模超过10亿美元。

由于印尼新政府较为稳定，且该国拥有大量自然资源，人口数量排在中国、印度和美国之后，位列世界第四，这些因素令印尼这一东南亚国家开始吸引更多长期投资流向各类企业、工厂和公路，印尼若要保持经济增长并保障年轻人就业，这些领域的发展至关重要。

过去12个月内，印尼基准股指上涨了13%，相比之下，同期印度和中国股市却在下跌。2011年，流入印尼汽车、电信、矿业和其它产业的外国直接投资(FDI)达到创纪录的200亿美元。印尼去年经济增幅6.5%，为15年来的最高增幅。与此同时，穆迪投资者服务公司(Moody's Investors Service)最近将该国的评级调升至投资级，很多规避风险的投资者因此重新开始关注印尼。

虽然KKR还没有一只以印尼为投资主题的基金，且迄今为止在印尼也还未达成一笔交易，但去年该公司聘请了在俄亥俄大学(Ohio University)接受过教育的银行家Ridha Wirakusumah为其在印尼寻找投资机会。Wirakusumah此前曾任印尼国际银行(PT Bank Internasional Indonesia)的高管，还曾任美国国际集团(American International Group)消费金融部亚太区主管。

KKR东南亚业务负责人Ming Lu说，我们相信，无论是在国内市场发展，还是进入国际市场，很多印尼企业都具有很强的优势。我们也知道很多企业在寻找合作伙伴以支撑自身增长，这既包括充实资本，也包括能有机会接触国际上的种种最佳做法，以提高企业竞争力。

并非所有的私募股权投资公司在印尼国内及周边寻找交易机会都获得了成功。凯雷投资集团(Carlyle Group)东南亚业务负责人Anand Balasubrahmanyan在该公司供职四年多后于近期离职，因为该公司在这一地区未能促成重大交易。事实上，对于在印尼的投资者来说，一个重大问题就是，他们能否找到足够多的交易以证明自己付出的努力。

虽然印尼经济的很多方面需要更多资本的这一事实毫无疑问，但印尼绝大部分顶级企业或是受政府控制，或是为国内富豪家族掌握。私有化进程常常受阻，且政治纷争不时令私有化过程变得更加复杂。控制该国最大一批企业的那些家族，大部分不需要外部资金，或是不愿和外界分享对企业的控制权。

鉴于印尼素来已久的腐败现象和不透明的法律制度，对于人脉不够深厚且对印尼不够了解的投资者来说，很多处于谈判阶段的交易看来仍然风险过高。在反腐败组织“透明国际”(Transparency International)的年度腐败调查中，印尼位列183个受调查国家中的100位。

印尼复杂的监管环境也令投资者难以充满信心地对该国押下大赌注。

Yawadwipa是新成立的一家由印尼和国际投资者支持的私募股权投资公司，该公司CEO霍尔姆说，无论一家私募基金拥有的资本和专业知识有多少，印尼都是一个难以攻破的市场。该公司计划募集一只规模为10亿美元的私募股权投资基金以投资印尼市场，但霍尔姆拒绝透露迄今为止这只基金的融资规模。

交易规模是令大型私募基金犹豫不决的另一个因素。分析师说，像KKR这样的大公司希望投入交易的资金往往在5亿美元以上，但大多数印尼企业家需要的资金不到5,000万美元。

曾在雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)工作多年的奥康纳(Brian O'Connor)说，我们认为中小规模的交易有更大的价值。奥康纳目前正与两位合作伙伴在一家名为Falcon House的以印尼为投资重点的私募基金公司募集一只规模为2亿美元的基金。这家公司计划投资印尼的消费行业，该公司已经争取到了主要投资者，预计到年底前将结束基金的募集。

多家国际私募基金在印尼开展业务的投资者说，印尼矿业、消费品、基础设施和金融业的前景特别好，且存在资金需求。