What Do Changes in Corporate Ownership in Indonesia Tell Us?

Abstract

This article documents the pattern of corporate ownership in Indonesia before and after the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis. We draw on an original dataset that identifies ultimate owners of the country’s 200 largest publicly listed corporations in 1996 and 2008, and supplement these data with additional information about unlisted firms. Corporate ownership and business–government relations in this period exhibited continuities as well as notable changes. Although family ownership remained the most prevalent form of ownership, there was considerable churning in the identities of the most powerful family owners. Listed state-owned corporations were more prominent after the crisis than before it, and foreign governments (particularly Singapore and Malaysia) substantially increased their ownership stakes in many of Indonesia’s largest corporations.