By Stefanno Sulaiman and Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) – New sovereign fund Danantara Indonesia on Monday unveiled its “dream team” to chart its strategy, which included ex-presidents and advisory roles for hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, economist Jeffrey Sachs and influential former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Danantara, launched last month, is Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s key vehicle to achieve his 8% growth target by 2029 by managing all shares of state-owned enterprises and reinvesting the dividends in commercial projects.
The fund is slated to eventually manage more than $900 billion worth of assets and has been described by officials as Indonesia’s version of Singapore’s Temasek.
Former Indonesian Presidents Joko Widodo and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were named members of the fund’s steering committee, while Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater, will assume the advisory role alongside Thaksin, a controversial billionaire and father of Thailand’s current premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Thaksin, Thailand’s most influential and polarising politician, returned home in 2023 after 15 years in self-exile avoiding jail for conflicts of interest and abuse of power. He served six months in detention and was released last year.
Reuters could not immediately contact Widodo and Yudhoyono for comment, while Bridgewater and Thaksin’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sachs in an email told Reuters he had been appointed Prabowo’s special adviser.
“And in this capacity (I) will serve on the advisory board of Danantara,” he said. “My work is entirely voluntary, to support Indonesia’s sustainable development, and is without any compensation.”
‘POSITIVE SIGNAL’
In its first wave of investment worth $20 billion, Danantara will target projects in natural resources processing, artificial intelligence development, and energy and food security.
The formation of Danantara and concerns about the state’s substantive role in the economy was one of the causes of a market selloff last week in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, according to some analysts, when the main stock index fell as much as 7%, triggering a trading halt.
Danantara chief executive officer Rosan Roeslani said the appointees would win market confidence.
“When these names are received well, it could be a positive signal for the Indonesian economy, job creation,” he told an appointment ceremony, adding all of Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises were now under the new fund’s management.
Among Danantara’s directors are former officials from several renowned banks such as Bank Mandiri and HSBC, as well as a former director at Indonesia’s central bank, Rosan said.
Danantara is the country’s second sovereign wealth fund after the Indonesia Investment Authority and will operate separately.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman and Stanley Widianto; Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Martin Petty)
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