Warburg Pincus LLC backed shopping mall developer, NWP Retail, will spend USD 123.5 million to purchase five Lippo shopping malls in Indonesia. Two shopping malls will be purchased from Singapore-listed Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust for USD 92 million and the remaining will be bought from PT Multipolar for USD 31.5 million. 78% stake of PT Multipolar is owned by PT Inti Anugerah Pratama which is a shareholder of PT Lippo Karawaci, the property arm of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group.
The two shopping malls are Pejaten Village in Jakarta and Binjai Supermall in Binjai, a satellite city of Medan. The remaining three are Central Plaza in Bandar Lampung, Duta Plaza in Bali and Cimanggis Square in Depok, a city in the greater Jakarta area.
NWP Retail is a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and real estate developer, PT City Retail Developments. It aims to capitalize on Indonesia’s growing middle class with increasing spending power. Established in 2015, currently it has a portfolio of 40 projects in Indonesia’s islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.
The private equity firm, Warburg Pincus has been investing in Asia’s expanding property sector. It led a consortium that bought a 20% stake in Vincom Retail JSC, a Vietnam mall operator, in 2013.
(Sources: Business Times; The Jakarta Post)
