Perindo Is Busy Preparing For Merger Of State-Owned Fisheries By Erick Thohir

Minister of BUMN, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Ministry of BUMN)

JAKARTA - The management of Perum Perikanan Indonesia (Perindo) is preparing for a merger or business merger with PT Perikanan Nusantara (Persero) or Perinus. State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Minister Erick Thohir has indeed ordered the merger of BUMN Fisheries.

Perum Perindo President Director Fatah Setiawan said the merger between the two state companies was aimed at strengthening the position of BUMN. Especially those in the food cluster.

"Perindo is directed to merge with Perinus joining Perindo to strengthen BUMN Fisheries and strengthen Perindo as part of BUMN food cluster," he said, in a webinar, Wednesday, January 20.

Fatah said that the effort to merge the two BUMNs was still in the process of changing the company's law from Perum to Limited Liability Company (PT). Fatah continued, Minister Erick also asked Perindo to increase digitalization and business automation.

"Perindo will improve all digitization in the company. We are optimistic that Perindo can continue to support the economy by running business lines such as cultivation, ports and trade," he said.

With the change in the status of Perindo to PT, the company will increase its focus on business performance which previously only targeted the fishing sector. This means that the merger of Perindo and Perinus as BUMN food clusters in the fisheries sector will play a role in fulfilling the need for food made from fish throughout Indonesia.

Eliminate Business Competition

Fatah said the merger was also carried out as an anticipatory step to eliminate clashes in the market because Perindo and Perinus had similarities in market share, business fields and company resources.

Furthermore, he explained, in order to anticipate the increasingly tight competition conditions and increase the competitiveness of BUMN at the national, regional and international levels, it is necessary to restructure and strengthen the BUMN-BUMN business. The goal is to produce a horizontally integrated business line, where there is no more competition for the same market.

This restructuring must be able to produce a single management that controls the running of the company and makes use of all company resources that exist in the two fisheries BUMNs. In addition, it is expected to be able to increase the value of BUMN and the contribution of BUMN to the national economy.

"As for the benefits of the merger for the community, namely increasing the quality and breadth of service coverage. This will automatically provide greater benefits," he explained.

Fatah said, Perum Perindo projected Perindo's strategic business target after the merger in the next 5 years, namely to achieve an income target of IDR 10.20 trillion with a profit of IDR 1.06 trillion and total assets of IDR 5.87 trillion.

For your information, Perum Perindo is a member of the BUMN Food Cluster. The BUMN Food Cluster is led by PT RNI (Persero) with cluster members including Perum Perikanan Indonesia, PT Berdikari (Persero), BGR Logistic, PT Garam (Persero), PT Perikanan Nusantara (Persero), PT Pertani (Persero), PT Perusahaan Trade Indonesia (Persero), and PT Sang Hyang Seri (Persero).

Previously, BUMN Minister Erick Thohir had indeed asked for the integration of BUMN Fisheries to be carried out immediately. This order is contained in the shareholder's or capital owner's directive regarding the formation of the BUMN Food Industry holding No.S-1131 / MBU / 12/2020.

In his letter, Erick asked for a process to change the legal form of Perum Perindo from being a public company (Perum) to a Persero. This is because Perum Perindo will become the holding company for state-owned fisheries from Nusantara Fisheries. The change in the legal entity of Perum Perindo aims to enable the state to transfer shares of state capital participation into the capital of the holding BUMN.

"PT Perikanan Nusantara (Persero) was merged with a legal entity resulting from the transformation of Perum Perikanan Indonesia to Persero (PT Perikanan Indonesia)," he was quoted as saying in the SOE Minister's directive.