Carlyle opens Jakarta office

The Carlyle Group has solidified its presence in Indonesia by opening an office in Jakarta, according to a statement.

The office will be led by managing director in Carlyle’s Asia buyout team, Rajiv Louis, who joined the firm in May 2013 to head its Indonesia investment practice. Prior to joining Carlyle, Louis was managing director and head of Indonesia at UBS.

The firm, which expressed its intention to open an office in Jakarta in March 2013, believes Indonesia and Southeast Asia offer significant investment opportunities, despite a noticeable cooling off in the sub-region since investors waded in during 2012 and 2013.

“Indonesia is a fast-growing market in Southeast Asia with attractive investment opportunities. Establishing an office in Jakarta is an important step in our expansion strategy to gain greater exposure in Indonesia as well as the Southeast Asia region. This also reflects our commitment to investing in this exciting economy and to supporting the development of Indonesia’s capital and investment markets,” Greg Zeluck, managing director and co-head of Carlyle Asia, said in a statement.

The firm had experienced some difficulty in the region, with previous Southeast Asia head Anand Balasubrahmanyan leaving in February 2012 after doing no deals during his four years at the firm, Private Equity International reported earlier.

However, Carlyle has since refocused its efforts in the region, doing its first Indonesia deal in October 2012. The firm acquired a 25 percent in a publicly traded Indonesian telecom towers operator for about $100 million, media reported widely at the time, although Carlyle has previously declined to comment on details.

“Opening an office in Indonesia will better enable us to create and seize investment opportunities driven by a young population, a growing middle class, rapid urbanization and rising incomes. With a local presence, coupled with our extensive global network and deep knowledge of Indonesian industries, we are in a superb position to support local entrepreneurs and create value for companies in Indonesia,” Louis added in the statement.

The office opening, Carlyle's ninth in Asia Pacific, comes as the firm gears up to close its latest Asia fund, which is targeting $3.5 billion and is expected to close by the end of this year, the firm said earlier. The Carlyle Group also gained the top spot in this year’s PEI 300 ranking, having collected $30.6 billion from LPs over the last five years.