Corporate sleuths target Indonesia as cheaper assets lure investors

By Eveline Danubrata and Michelle Price

JAKARTA/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Business is booming for corporate investigators in Indonesia, where the sharp decline in global commodity prices has triggered a spate of defaults and distressed asset sales that has attracted foreign investors to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Specialist corporate intelligence firms that cut their teeth in China like Blackpeak Group and Control Risks say the number of enquiries related to asset sales and commercial disputes in Indonesia has shot up over the past year.

And while there is no independent data about the size of the industry, experts say corporate intelligence is particularly important for investors going into Indonesia, where disclosure laws are lax and inconsistently enforced.

 

"You've got a lot of dislocation and there are people who will make profit out of that," Christopher Leahy, Singapore-based founder of Blackpeak Group, told Reuters, adding that the number of Indonesia-related enquiries had more than doubled over the past year.

Indonesia ranked 107 out of the 175 nations and territories on a Transparency International index that measures perceived corruption in the public sector, below China and other developing Southeast Asian nations like Thailand and Malaysia.

The lack of legal protection for investors was highlighted last year after a Jakarta court validated a debt restructuring maneuver by PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk , part of a group owned by the politically connected Bakrie family, which distressed debt investors said was unprecedented: the company loaned itself money and then counted its own votes to approve the plan over some creditors' objections.

British financier Nathaniel Rothschild also became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with the Bakries over control of an Indonesia-focused coal miner. They parted ways acrimoniously last year.

Despite such risks, Thomson Reuters data shows that Indonesia remains attractive: for the first eight months of this year, private equity firms invested $139.3 million in Indonesia, four times the amount for 2014. Foreign direct investment also increased at the fastest pace since 2013 in the second quarter this year, rising 18.2 percent to 92.2 trillion rupiah ($6.4 billion).

Corporate investigators say they expect even more money to come into Indonesia, as firms seek bargains in an economy growing at 4.67 percent, its weakest pace since 2009, and as many companies struggle to repay debt. And these investors, they say, will need their help.

"Over the next six to 12 months we expect to see a rise in distressed assets in the local market and that will create more investment opportunities," said Phil Johnson, managing director at Control Risks.

COUNTING TREES

Over the past year, units of coal miners PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk and PT Bumi Resources Tbk have filed for court protection from legal action by creditors after missing payments on a combined $1.8 billion worth of debt. Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group and hedge fund Argyle Street Management also bought Berau's parent company earlier this year.

Firms such as Control Risks provide services that range from poring over financial statements of target companies to counting trees on palm plantations.

Some clients require work as detailed as counting the number of desks in an office to verify a company headcount, or analysing the amount of coal in a mine to ensure it matches what was reportedly sold, said Peter Coleman, a former Australian police officer who set up the Indonesia operations of corporate advisory firm Censere last year.

Searching for evidence of bribery and corruption - longstanding problems that Indonesian President Joko Widodo wants to stamp out - is also in demand as regulators in the United States, Europe and Australia get tougher on graft.

Joel Hogarth, partner at law firm Ashurst LLP, said many clients often hire investigators before taking on a partner or considering a potential investment.

"Key points they are looking for include general reputation and history of doing business," he said. "Another main reason is that this is a requirement of many firms' compliance policies."

Indonesia's investment appeal has turned it into one of the fastest growing markets for corporate investigations, several sleuths say.

"China is without doubt our largest market, but we see Indonesia challenging that right now," said Coleman of Censere, which this month leased new offices to allow the company to quadruple its headcount in Indonesia.

(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata in JAKARTA and Michelle Price in HONG KONG; Editing by Denny Thomas and Miral Fahmy)