India's Asian Paints to Exit Indonesia in Nearly $6 Million Deal

BUSINESS AND TRADE. India's Asian Paints said on Friday it will sell its Indonesian business to Australia's Omega Property Investments for S$7.5 million ($5.6 million), citing growth challenges nine years after entering the market.

The Indian paint maker said early last year that pursuing growth in Indonesia was "tough" due to profitability and cost control being under pressure.

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"Despite the varied strategic steps undertaken over the last 9 years to expand its operations in Indonesia... operations in Indonesia remained sub-scale and immaterial to the overall international operations," Asian Paints said.

The paint maker, with operations in 15 countries, gets 9% of its revenue from its international business. It garners a majority of its revenue from the Indian market, where it is the market leader.

The Indonesia business contributes a mere 0.24% to the company's consolidated topline.

Asian Paints said it will recognise a loss of $10.4 million from selling its Indonesian assets, which were worth a net $19 million as of fiscal year 2024, according to its latest annual report.

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The company's shares fell 1% after the news, but trimmed losses to close 0.2% lower. ($1 = 1.3433 Singapore dollars)