Jasa Marga sees two takeovers in pipeline

JAKARTA. Publicly listed highway company PT Jasa Marga (JSMR) will set its sights on acquiring majority stakes in two toll roads to expand into infrastructure-poor areas to spur growth, a company official says.

“We are looking at one or two toll roads. We hope that we can finish one [acquisition] in the second half,” Jasa Marga finance director Rey-naldi Hermansjah said, declining to give further details.

However, Reynaldi added that the acquisitions would supplement a recent deal to take over a stake in the Cinere-Jagorawi toll road.

Reynaldi said that Jasa Marga had the financial resources to keep business growing through new toll road development and acquisitions.

The state-owned company could support Rp 15 trillion (US$1.58 billion) in expansion, he added.

“There are limitations, including our debt-to-equity ratio, which can support up to that amount. It depends on whether we will use it to support only one acquisition or several acquisitions,” Reynaldi said.

According to its first semester financial report, Jasa Marga had Rp 4.14 trillion in cash and cash equivalents, total assets of Rp 22.03 trillion, liabilities of Rp 13.03 trillion and Rp 8.99 trillion in equity at the end of June.

Jasa Marga currently operates 545 kilometers of the nation’s 750 kilometers of toll roads, most of which are in Java, and previously announced plans to operate 738 kilometers of roads by 2014.

The firm also recently announced a deal for a 21.24 percent stake in PT Translingkar Kita Jaya, the operator of Cinere-Jagorawi toll road.

Jasa Marga has earmarked Rp 7 trillion for its projects, which also include partnerships and consortium projects. It has allocated around Rp 3 trillion in capital expenditures this year alone to support the projects.

“In the first half, we spent more than Rp 1 trillion, mostly for development of the Bali toll road,” Reynaldi said. Jasa Marga has said that it expected to increase its traffic volume to 1.11 billion vehicles this year, which would boost its revenues to Rp 5.2 trillion.

The company’s transaction volume reached 583.86 million vehicles in the first six months of the year, a 11.52 percent increase year-on-year. (Raras Cahyafitri/The Jakarta Post)