Indonesian diversified conglomerate Lippo Group has invested Rp 628 billion ($45 million), or 350 million Hong Kong dollars, in Chinese internet giant Tencent, the world’s eighth most valuable listed company and owner of leading internet services including WeChat, Snapchat and Spotify, and technology companies such as Tesla.
The investment highlights Lippo’s continued digital transformation and investment into the fourth industrial revolution, the group said in a statement on Monday (25/06).
Lippo, a pan-Asian group with strategic investments and operations across eight markets globally, is the largest integrated services group in Indonesia, serving more than 60 million unique customers across its real estate, malls, department stores, hospitals, telecommunications, media and financial services businesses.
Lippo’s 350 million Hong Kong dollars investment into Tencent comprised of new Tencent shares and equity-linked notes (ELNs). The investment is made by Lippo’s Hong Kong investment subsidiary.
Tencent’s market capitalization passed $500 billion last November, making it the first listed Chinese firm to do so and briefly overtaking Facebook as the world’s fifth biggest firm.
Co-founder Ma Huateng, nicknamed Pony Ma, is the 17th richest person in the world, with a fortune of $45.3 billion — four places behind Google co-founder Sergey Brin, according to the latest Forbes rich list.
Tencent’s core business is built on messaging app WeChat, the world’s largest mobile gaming franchises, and an ecosystem of services (for its 1 billion users) usually offered by Silicon Valley firms that have no foothold in China.
Tencent Video, a streaming service much like Netflix, is the biggest of its kind in China and carries exclusive content including HBO series “Game of Thrones”. The service more than doubled in size in 2017, drawing more than 40 million paying subscribers.
In Indonesia, Lippo’s nine unique sectors are all pushing to digitalize. In addition, it has established a digital investment group to lay strong foundations for the fourth industrial revolution. This includes Venturra Capital having invested in 24 start-ups in the last 2 years, mataharimall.com, and OVO — Indonesia’s leading payment and marketing platform.