INDONESIA
Yearning to bring it back home
After two years of protracted negotiations, Merrill Lynch earlier this year celebrated its newly opened joint-venture securities operation in Jakarta. Its liaison with local tycoon Hashim Djojohadikusmo, whose PT Persada Kian Pasti Lestari owns 20% of the new firm, had helped it win Indonesia's two most coveted privatization mandates to date - global coordinator on Indosat's $1.16 billion offering in 1994 and joint global coordinator on last November's $1.6 billion transaction for PT Telkom. Flush with over $50 million in fees from these two deals, it threw a lavish binge.
Catering was provided by the Grand Hyatt hotel, over $20,000 was spent on repainting the courtyard at the National Museum venue and, for $150, the services of a native "rain-stopper" were secured to prevent precipitation from marring the open-air event. But while the rain stayed away, so did the heavyweights of Indonesian business and finance. "Despite Hashim's high profile [he is president Suharto's son-in-law's brother], it was a big no-show. Telecommunications minister Joop Ave was the only politician of note to put in an appearance," says one guest from a rival investment bank.