Bakrie & Brothers to Focus Increasingly on EV, Renewable Energy

Jakarta. Bakrie & Brothers (BNBR) is transitioning businesses to electric vehicles and renewable energy, shifting away from manufacturing and infrastructure that have long become the backbone of the company, its president director said on Friday.

The company has begun to supply electric buses to TransJakarta and recently reached a deal to build a solar power plant.

“The world is totally changing due to climate change, digitalization, and the Covid-19 pandemic. We are still in crisis but there are signs of economic recovery. The transformation that we are embracing is therefore inevitable and a very important step for the company to convert crisis into opportunities for growth,” Anindya Novyan Bakrie said during a virtual public expose in Jakarta.

With the economic impact of the pandemic still affecting the company, revenues fell by 21 percent to Rp 1.57 trillion in the third quarter of the year from Rp 1.98 trillion in the same period last year.

However, the company’s net loss has been reduced significantly to Rp 45 billion from Rp 240 billion in the third quarter of last year. Bakrie & Brothers’ asset value rose to Rp 15.12 trillion from Rp 13.99 trillion thanks to increasing short-term investments and third-party loans.

“Approaching our 80th anniversary, Bakrie Group has been transforming its core business from general trade to steel pipe manufacture and expanding to agribusiness, mining, and energy in addition to national-scale infrastructure projects. It’s now time for us to enter electrification and renewable energy,” Anindya said in reference to the parent company.

The company has been collaborating with China’s BYD Auto to supply electric buses over the last three years. The first few buses have passed the homologation process and road tests in the capital city.

Subsidiary Bakrie Autoparts has supplied 30 electric buses to one of TransJakarta operators and they will come to service on the existing routes in the near future.

Bakrie Autoparts CEO Dino Ryandi said the Jakarta government plans to operate 100 electric buses assembled in local plants by 2022 and the company is fully ready to make that happen.

“We have established a partnership with local manufacturers and charging station providers to increase the local content,” Dino said. 

Another subsidiary, Bakrie Power, has reached an agreement with state-owned electricity company PLN on the construction of a 1.3-Mw solar power plant in the South Sulawesi town of Selayar. The plant is slated to become operational later this month. 

Bakrie Power is eyeing two more renewable projects with combined market size of $ 2.65 million, Anindya said. 

Indonesia still has hundreds of diesel fuel power plants that sooner or later will be converted into renewables.

Anin said Bakrie & Brothers also expands businesses to prefabricated houses and 3D printing although they remain at the initial stage and mulls starting technology companies in cooperation with Quantum Venture Fund.