Indonesia Saratoga Drops Deal to Buy Majority Stake in Taxi Firm
Jakarta. Indonesia's Saratoga Investama Sedaya has axed a deal to buy a majority stake in taxi operator Express Transindo Utama from conglomerate Rajawali Corpora, a move the investment firm attributed to volatile market conditions.
The termination of the deal became effective as of Oct. 7, Saratoga said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.
In April, Saratoga had said it planned to buy a 51 percent stake in Express from Rajawali, without disclosing the deal's value.
"There were hopes that Saratoga would buy Express shares at a premium and that Saratoga can revive the financial capability of Express," said Adrianus Bias, senior analyst at Samuel Sekuritas.
Rajawali, a plantation-to-mining conglomerate, is controlled by Indonesian tycoon Peter Sondakh.
Express shares fell nearly 10 percent on Friday. Its shares have been volatile lately, dropping more than 9 percent on several days since mid-September, but rising 19.5 percent on Oct. 2.
"People are selling now because the deal is off," said analyst Bias.
Reuters
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