“DAM or DIM?”

If you mention Danantara to people who have dealt with the Indonesian sovereign fund, they may ask you from the outset whether your matter falls under Danantara Asset Management (DAM) or Danantara Investment Management (DIM).

While Danantara is helmed by Chief Executive Officer Rosan Roeslani, a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States, DAM and DIM are run by different sets of officials who carry out different functions and tend to respect each other’s remit.

DAM – which is led by Danantara’s Chief Operating Officer and former Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Dony Oskaria – essentially took over the restructurings that were previously executed by the SOE Ministry before it was dissolved. The regulatory function is now performed by a new agency, BP BUMN, which is also overseen by Pak Dony.

A key official handling some of the high-profile SOE restructurings is Febriany Eddy (known as Ibu Febri), who assumed the role of Non-Financial Managing Director last year. Before joining Danantara, she had a long stretch in the private sector where she rose through the ranks at Vale to become CEO of the Brazilian mining giant’s Indonesian unit.

DAM’s counterpart, DIM, is Danantara’s investment arm led by the fund’s Chief Investment Officer Pandu Sjahrir. DIM spearheads Danantara’s fundraising activities, including the issuance of its patriot bonds and loan syndication, according to people familiar with the matter.

Two of the key DIM personnel are Djamal Attamimi, Managing Director of Finance, and Ali Setiawan, Managing Director of Treasury & Public Investment. I wrote in July 2025 that in order to finance President Prabowo Subianto’s large-scale initiatives, Danantara would likely have to syndicate its loan to a wider group of banks and build a bridge to offshore bonds.

Danantara has been exploring a potential issuance of offshore bonds for a while, but the response from investors would really depend on the timing, a buyside friend said, noting the recent negative headlines surrounding the centralization of Indonesia’s commodity exports under the fund.

In November 2025, Danantara’s treasury managing director Ali Setiawan told a press conference in Jakarta that while the fund had plans to sell global bonds, rating agencies should make their assessments first. “Our target for 2026 is to get the credit ratings because we wish to achieve the best results. Why issue if the ratings are bad?” he reportedly said.

Another Danantara official in the spotlight is Luke Thomas Mahony, a former Vale executive who was appointed last month to head a new state-owned company established to oversee Indonesia’s natural resource exports. Danantara said the selection of Mahony – an Australian national – was based on his track record in the mining sector and personal ties to Indonesia.

Companies to Watch

🔸 Dhilmar

Anglo American agreed last month to sell its steelmaking coal mines in Australia to Dhilmar for as much as USD 3.88 billion in cash, Bloomberg reported.

Dhilmar is reportedly led by Alexander Ramlie, a former investment banker who was part of the Amman Mineral Internasional consortium that bought Indonesia’s second-biggest copper and gold mine from Newmont Mining Corporation.

Ramlie has business links with Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim, the boss of Salim Group, according to people familiar with the matter and media reports. Another former banker whom the Indonesian conglomerate tends to work with – especially for mining deals – is Agoes Projosasmito.

🔸 Bumi Resources

In 2022, Salim Group teamed up with another conglomerate, Bakrie Group, to buy out Indonesian coal miner Bumi Resources’ creditors and safeguard its assets.

Projosasmito was appointed as President Director of Bumi’s minerals unit, Bumi Resources Minerals (BRMS), spearheading the improvement of its operations and credit standing, according to the Acrostics Anatomy on Salim Group’s Bumi Turnaround.

I also wrote in June 2025 that Bumi was resetting its balance sheet via a “quasi reorganization”, which should pave the way for it to pay dividends to shareholders and raise funding.

Bumi has recently been on an acquisition drive, scooping up assets in Australia including Wolfram and Loyal Metals. The company could potentially tap the debt markets again, although investors’ sentiment will likely be affected by the Indonesian government’s policies in the mining or commodities sector.

People to Watch

EY-Parthenon was the exclusive financial advisor to Bank SMBC Indonesia on its USD 1.1 billion pension loan divestment to state-owned lender Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN). For the EY-Parthenon team who worked on the transaction, check out this LinkedIn post.

The news caught the attention of some friends in the industry because an external advisor is typically brought in to handle the sale of non-performing loans (NPL), but this particular deal involved performing loans. The sale of the pension loan portfolio is likely part of SMBC’s internal strategy to pivot towards higher-growth areas.

Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that connects the dots across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.

Whether or not business is good in Singapore really depends on which sector you’re in.

If you’re in private banking, family offices or wealth management, there’s no better place to be than in Singapore, as a lawyer friend put it.

The economy expanded 5% last year on the back of foreign direct investment and safe haven capital inflows. Singapore’s 6% growth in the first quarter of 2026 also beat expectations, though officials flagged downside risks amid the Middle East conflict.

International asset managers including Sixth Street Partners, Global Infrastructure Partners, Pentagreen Capital and IFM Investors have been building their private credit teams in the city-state, Bloomberg reported.

Singapore’s all-out efforts to boost its equities are also starting to pay off, as the total value of companies listed on the Singapore Exchange reportedly climbed to around USD 644 billion, overtaking Indonesia as Southeast Asia’s largest stock market.

In the restructuring and insolvency (R&I) space, there are a couple of interesting cases, such as the restructuring of a Singapore-incorporated alcohol distributor as well as the application to wind up a fintech company. Cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes – which was run by Singapore-listed mm2 Asia – also ceased its operations last year.

Some liquidations are ongoing, but they tend to be smaller tickets in the F&B sector that are nowhere near the scale of Singapore oil trader Hin Leong’s collapse six years ago, according to several R&I practitioners.

Companies to Watch

🔸 Keppel

Keppel announced on 27 April 2026 that its subsidiary, Corredance, had launched arbitration proceedings at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre against its joint venture partners in Vietnam.

The Singapore company is seeking declarations that three entities related to their 2016 investment agreement are fully liable for additional land use fees of around USD 261 million that were imposed by the authorities on the project company, Empire City, according to Keppel’s stock exchange filing.

Keppel’s Corredance has a 40% equity interest in the project company, which was established to build and operate residential and mixed-use developments on certain land plots in Ho Chi Minh City.

• The Land Bill Shock: What Keppel’s Empire City Arbitration Means for Investors in Vietnam Real Estate by Vilasia Law Firm

• 💼 Brief Take: Vietnam’s Risk Zone

🔸 UCars

Singapore car portal UCars was wound up more than a year after it was revealed to be SGD 4 million (USD 3.1 million) in debt, The Business Times reported. The appointed liquidator is Seah Chee Wei of Rock Stevenson.

• 📚 Acrostics Anatomy: Singapore Squeeze

• 💼 Brief Take: Singapore’s Missing Cars

• 💼 Brief Take: Singapore’s Rental Car Wreck

People to Watch

🔸 Quantuma’s Asia Office Buyout

Quantuma offices in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam) and the Caribbean (BVI) were the subject of a management buyout, led by the senior leadership team in its Singapore office, according to the advisory firm’s LinkedIn post.

🔸 Jacqueline Chan Named R&I Lawyer of the Year at Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards

Milbank Partner Jacqueline Chan was named Restructuring and Insolvency Lawyer of the Year at the Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards 2026.

Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that connects the dots across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.

What a week – that was the sentiment in Jakarta as President Prabowo Subianto moved to centralize exports of key commodities under Danantara.

Even the rank and file at Danantara were stumped by the former general’s fiery speech and wondered how the sovereign fund was going to implement his plan, according to a friend familiar with the matter.

The president’s attempt to rein in transfer pricing – which has long been a form of capital leakage out of Indonesia – and keep dollars onshore is not illogical. But as with many of his earlier initiatives, the ambition and time horizon are misaligned with the practical reality, according to a Jakarta-based financier.

Indonesia’s stock market slumped 3.5% while the rupiah continued weakening to around 17,700 per dollar following the announcement.

I wrote in April last year that capital had flowed out of the country partly due to fears of being caught on the wrong side of the power consolidation after the president took office. Some tycoons were unsure if there was a grand design to this operation, making it difficult to plan around it, a friend close to the tycoons said at the time.

Wealthy Indonesians already accumulated significant assets or investments in neighbouring Singapore, so they have been diversifying to offshore destinations such as the Middle East, the UK, mainland China and Hong Kong, according to bankers familiar with the matter.

While Indonesian tycoons are hedging their exposure for safety reasons, they are unlikely to completely abandon business in Indonesia as some of them have built up scale that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.

Companies to Watch

🔸 Garuda Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia has been exploring options as it’s pummelled by the spike in fuel costs, according to several friends familiar with the matter. While the national carrier cannot just look at the fundraising route this time, a post-PKPU restructuring will likely be challenging – as I’ve flagged throughout the past year.

A key area of consideration is the negative optics associated with pursuing a fourth restructuring so soon after Danantara injected USD 1.4 billion into the airline. However, the clock is ticking for Garuda as its liquidity is shrinking rapidly.

🔸 Whoosh

The China-backed Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail known as Whoosh is another state project with ballooning costs and uncertain recovery. I wrote on 14 April 2025 that state-owned builder Wijaya Karya was headed for a restructuring redux due to the infrastructure budget cuts and cost over-runs at Whoosh.

I also noted on 11 October 2025 that the Indonesian SOE method of rolling over loans or converting debt into equity may not work with the Chinese. It’s possible for Indonesia to offer the Jakarta-Surabaya rail line to China in return for some form of forbearance on Whoosh, though whether or not it can make money is still a question mark.

🔸 Modernland Realty

I wrote on 16 December 2024 that even if Modernland Realty could pull off its second round of restructuring, the Indonesian property developer was reliant on asset sales to jump over a maturity wall in 2027.

Quantuma was appointed to procure asset sales after Modernland’s restructuring was implemented in March 2025 via a Singapore scheme of arrangement, according to the advisory firm’s press release. While the sale process is ongoing, the developer has to service an expensive bridge loan from Bank JTrust Indonesia and ADM Capital’s Eight Rubies.

🔸 Indika Energy

The energy company continues diversifying away from coal by setting up an electricity distribution unit, Electra Jaringan Indonesia (EJI). The new subsidiary’s business activities will include retail sales of electricity to end consumers, according to its stock exchange filing.

Indika also issued USD 100 million 8.75% notes due 2029 to fund the development of its gold mining project in South Sulawesi. The company has a track record as a repeat issuer in the international bond market, so it’s not surprising that it was able to complete the latest deal.

People to Watch

There’s a merry-go-round going on in Indonesia’s restructuring and insolvency scene, as some firms that were hit by departures have to poach from other firms to replenish their ranks.

The trend is driven by a mix of reasons: a couple of individuals are embarking on their ventures while others are trying out a different firm or sector. The domino effect is still playing out and it’s unclear who’ll be the net gainer/loser when the dust settles.

Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that connects the dots across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.