New York Private Equity Firm KKR To Buy 9.5% Of Indonesian Food Retailer Tiga Pilar Sejahtera; Price Not Disclosed

Private equity firm KKR & Co. LP (NYSE:KKR) will buy a 9.5 percent stake in PT Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food Tbk, a subsidiary of major Jakarta, Indonesia food retailer Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Group, which owns several popular brands of Indonesian snack foods, including Taro dried fish and Gulas tamarind candy.

TPSF shareholders will sell a 9.5 percent stake of the company to funds managed by KKR Asset Management LLC, the companies said Monday. The companies haven't said how much the deal, expected to close sometime next month, is worth. KKR will be TPSF's second-largest shareholder after TPS.

The move underscores the rising prominence of Asian-centric brands in the largest economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and one that has a rapidly rising consumer spending rate. Earlier this month, KKR announced that it had closed a $6 billion fund for the Asia-Pacific region, the biggest such fund to date. To date, KKR has invested more than $5.5 billion in 30 companies around Asia.

Many of TPS Group food brands are popular throughout Southeast Asia and wherever its emigrants reside worldwide.

"Indonesia's economic trajectory places it on pace to become a top-10 economy by 2030 and its consumer economy could become the third largest by 2050, trailing only China and India,” Ridha Wirakusumah, director of KKR’s Asia operations, said in a joint statement from both companies.

Joko Mogoginta, CEO of TPS Group, pointed to KKR’s “deep expertise in the food and retail industry” as a reason for agreeing to the deal to help TPSF develop its business. KKR has $78 billion in assets under management.