Djarum Group Takes Control of iForte Shares

Sarana Menara Nusantara, a listed telecommunications tower operator controlled by Djarum, has acquired 100 percent of iForte Solusi Infotek, a telecommunication infrastructure company affiliated to Saratoga Group.

Sarana Menara took over iForte through its subsidiary Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia.

With the acquisition, Sarana Menara will also take over all of iForte’s bond debts and warrants.

Sarana Menara hopes the transaction will help the company achieve its target to become the biggest telecommunications tower operator in Indonesia.

“We hope the transaction can create a synergy that would speed up the company’s business growth,” Sarana Menara Nusantara corporate secretary Arif Pradana said in a filing to the Jakarta Stock Exchange last week.

The transaction will make up less than 20 percent of Sarana’s total equity, recorded at Rp 4.67 trillion ($354 million) at the end of 2014.

IForte, established in 2002, started its business as an information technology company.

IForte was taken over by Saratoga in 2010 and has since transformed into a telecommunication infrastructure company with a fiber optic network presence and a Micro-BTS license for the Greater Jakarta area.

Meanwhile, 33 percent of Sarana Menara is controlled by Djarum through subsidiaries Tricipta Mandhala Gumilang and Caturguwiratna Sumapala.

Sarana Menara’s biggest clients include Telkomsel, the biggest mobile-phone operator in the country and a subsidiary of the country’s largest telecommunications firm Telekomunikasi Indonesia, and XL Axiata — the country’s second-biggest mobile network operator.