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By Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Global asset managers I Squared Capital and Macquarie are among bidders vying for a stake in the fibre business of Indonesia's Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison in a deal that could value it at $1 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Plans for the sale come as global investors' interest grows in digital infrastructure across Asia, lured by prospects for growth against the backdrop of rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing-based services.
Indosat or IOH, Indonesia's second biggest mobile telecom company, could sell a stake of up to 75% in its fibre business asset with final bids due in April, said the sources, who both spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
However, no final decision has been made and the stake size and timeline could change depending on market conditions, they added.
Other contenders include Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia or Protelindo, Indonesia's largest independent owner and operator of telco towers, one of the sources said.
IOH hired Citigroup to run the sale last year after expressions of interest from investors and companies keen to partner it to further grow the fibre optic telecoms business, Reuters reported in March 2024.
IOH and Citi declined to comment. I Squared and Macquarie said no comment.
Protelindo said it pursues a business strategy of growing both organically and inorganically, but declined to respond to market rumours.
"All disclosures to the public will be made in accordance with applicable regulations," a Protelindo director, Anita Anwar, said on Wednesday.
Larger peer Telkom Indonesia appointed Goldman Sachs and Mandiri Sekuritas to help it find a strategic investor for its data centre business, a company official told Reuters in August.
In June, a consortium of U.S. investment firm KKR and Singapore Telecoms said it would invest $1.3 billion in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, one of Asia's biggest data centre providers.
IOH, headquartered in Jakarta, saw net profit rise 9% on the year to 4.91 trillion rupiah ($298.66 million) last year, its financial statement showed in February.
Revenue climbed 9.1% on the year to 55.9 trillion rupiah, driven by better performance by its cellular, and multimedia, data communication and internet businesses.
($1=S$1.3336)
($1=16,440 rupiah)
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Additional reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
