18 | FORBES INDONESIA AUGUST 2017Update BY ARDIAN WIBISONO
BANK MANDIRI
TO OPEN FULL
BRANCH
IN MALAYSIA
BLIBLI ACQUIRES TIKET.COM
E-commerce company Blibli.com, a subsidiary of the Djarum group’s GDP Venture led by
Martin Hartono, wholly acquire Tiket.com in mid-June for an undisclosed value to expand
into the online travel agency business. With the acquisition, the company aims to grow
their business by 2.5 times in terms of sales and transaction volume. “Tiket.com has a
good track record in business where it has managed to become one of the largest online
ticketing agencies in the country in a relatively short time,” said Blibli Chief Executive
Kusumo Martanto in a statement.
Before the acquisition, Blibli have begun offering travel products from late 2016. And Tiket.
com co-founder Gaery Undarsa said the acquisition process by Blibli had been started earlier
this year. The statement said that after the acquisition Blibli and Tiket.com will share inven-
tory, sales and promotion, and human resources. Blibli has also appointed new Chief Executive
George Hendrata to lead Tiket.com. George is currently chairman of BMJ, a paper specialty
company in the world, and also Djarum’s business development and diversification director.
Blibli was founded in 2011, the same year Tiket.com started. Blibli now offers over
1.5 million products online from more than 15,000 local and international brands.
Tiket.com, meanwhile, offers airline tickets, hotel rooms, train tickets, car rentals, as
well as tickets for shows and events. Tiket.com is now selling airline tickets from over
35 airlines and rooms on over 180,000 hotels.The country’s largest lender Bank Mandiri plans to
open a full branch in Malaysia after obtaining a Quali-
fied ASEAN Bank license. The new branch, Bank
Mandiri Bhd, should open in Kuala Lumpur by the
end of this year. Bank Mandiri President Director
Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said earlier this month Mandiri
will operate two branches offering retail banking
and wholesale services.
Chief Commissioner of Indonesia’s Financial
Service Authority Muliaman D. Hadad said that Bank
Mandiri is the first Indonesian bank to obtain a license
in Malaysia to operate a full branch, giving it an equal
status as a local Malaysian bank. Mandiri started its
presence in Malaysia in 2009, but previously had been
limited to only providing remittance services to Indo-
nesian workers in the country.
Kartika said the bank has set aside 300 million
ringgit in initial capital for the opening. “We have injected 50 million and will gradu-
ally add in more capital,” said Kartika. To achieve its target to be ASEAN’s top bank,
Bank Mandiri has announced plans to expand its branches and business abroad.
Currently the lender has seven international offices in the Cayman Islands, Timor
Leste, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, including two subsidiaries—Bank Man-
diri Europe Ltd in London and Mandiri International Remittance in Malaysia. Kar-
tika had said earlier that Bank Mandiri is also looking into expand into other ASEAN
countries like Myanmar and the Philippines, including making acquisitions there.REUTERS