(Reuters) -Newly launched sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia is in early talks with GoTo to get a piece of U.S.-listed rival Grab’s potential buyout of the ride-hailing and food delivery firm, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The fund is seeking a minority stake in the combined entity, which could help ease the Indonesian government’s concerns of Singapore-headquartered Grab owning the country’s biggest tech firm, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Indonesia’s antitrust regulator last month started research aimed at identifying risks from a possible deal between the tech giants, who have yet to confirm merger talks.
Grab is looking to strike a deal in the second quarter and could value GoTo at around $7 billion, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last month.
The companies have made progress on the structure of the deal, but talks had slowed down recently due to potential regulatory demands, Bloomberg News said.
Indonesia launched Danantara in February, aiming to invest in a wide range of projects from metal processing to artificial intelligence. It will hold government stakes in state firms and is intended to operate like Singapore’s investment arm Temasek.
GoTo and Grab declined to comment, while Danantara Indonesia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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