Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) said it may shell out as much as $600 million in its bid to own 35 percent of Indonesia’s Jasamarga Transjawa Tol.
Jasamarga Transjawa is a unit of Indonesia’s PT Jasa Marga Tbk, which operates 35 toll road concessions spanning 1,809 kilometers.
Established in 2017, Jasamarga Transjawa Tol operates toll roads in West Java, Central Java and East Java, totalling 13 concessions and spans 676 kilometers, and about 56 percent of the Jasa Marga Group portfolio.
The Indonesian firm is in the mid of selling a portion of its ownership to interested bidders which include state-owned Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).
MPTC is joining the bid in partnership with Singapore’s GIC Pte. Ltd., which this month announced buying 33 percent of MPTC’s Indonesia operating unit, PT Margautama Nusantara.
Christopher Lizo, MPTC chief finance officer, said the consortium is currently doing the due diligence for Jasamarga Transjawa in time for the submission of a final bid by January 15.
The consortium is valuing the stake at around $1 billion at the very least, according to Lizo.
“So that’s our anticipated participation in the project to get ready together with GIC our partner, it’s about $1 billion to $1.2 billion,” Lizo said.
Liz said MPTC expects the bidding to close by the first quarter of next year.
If successful, Jasamarga Transjawa will be the latest addition to MPTC’s Indonesia portfolio following the signing in October of the concession agreement for the development and operation of the $1.4 billion, 2×2 lanes, Jakarta Outer Ring elevated toll road project that will span 21.5 kilometers.
Rodrigo Franco, former MPTC president, earlier said that Indonesia comprises the bulk of the company’s portfolio, attracting 1.4 million in traffic daily, compared to the Philippines’ 600,000.
