Indonesia's Danantara allocates $1 billion to Partners Group for Asian private credit
Indonesia's state asset fund Danantara has allocated $1 billion to Swiss global equity firm Partners Group for private credit investments across Asia, marking one of the fund's largest deployments in international markets, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The mandate comprises $600 million designated for direct lending opportunities and an additional $400 million as a discretionary tranche to be managed by Partners Group, along with coinvestment capital, according to people who requested anonymity as the information has not been made public.
Danantara Chief Investment Officer Pandu Patria Sjahrir confirmed the investment to Bloomberg but declined to specify the amount. Sjahrir previously served as Vice President Director of PT TBS Energi Utama Tbk and has extensive experience in private equity, having helped raise over $1 billion in venture capital across Southeast Asia through AC Ventures, backing platforms including Gojek.
"The investment in Partners Group will be for direct lending opportunities across Asia, especially Indonesia. We foresee the investment to yield good returns and allow knowledge transfer that will eventually benefit Indonesians."
He emphasized that the initiative aligns with the fund's mandate to invest both domestically and internationally, noting that the capital would ultimately return to Indonesia. A representative for Partners Group declined to comment on the arrangement.
Strategic context and market positioning
The allocation represents a significant move for Danantara, which was officially launched on February 24, 2025, as Indonesia's second sovereign wealth fund after the Indonesia Investment Authority. With approximately $900 billion in assets under management, Danantara ranks as the seventh-largest sovereign wealth fund globally.
The fund, modeled after Singapore's Temasek, serves as a key instrument in President Prabowo Subianto's economic strategy to accelerate Indonesia's GDP growth from 5 percent to 8 percent by 2029.
This Partners Group mandate forms part of Danantara's ambitious 2026 investment program, which targets up to $14 billion in deployments, up from $8 billion in 2025. Priority sectors include renewable energy, energy transition, digital infrastructure, healthcare, and food security.
During its first year of operations, Danantara invested approximately $7 billion in natural-resource processing projects, including aluminum refining, bioethanol production, aviation fuel processing, and integrated food production facilities. In July 2026, the fund acquired and merged four state-owned asset management companies for approximately $150 million, creating Indonesia's largest asset manager with about 132 trillion rupiah in assets under management.
Growing Asian private credit market
The investment comes as the Asia-Pacific private credit market experiences substantial growth. The market has expanded nearly fourfold over the past 15 years, with assets reaching approximately $59 billion in 2024 and projected to exceed $91 billion by 2027, representing annual growth of about 16 percent over three years.
Partners Group, which manages over $40 billion in private credit assets globally, brings a 15-year track record of investing in private credit across Asia. The firm has closed more than five mandates with major institutional investors in the region over the past year.
According to Partners Group's Chairman of Asia Kevin Lu, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, particularly in Southeast Asia and Japan, are increasingly allocating to private credit due to attractive risk-adjusted returns compared to public fixed income portfolios.
The Asia-Pacific private credit market remains highly fragmented, spanning over 50 jurisdictions. Approximately 90 percent of deals involve borrowers without private equity backing, focusing primarily on underbanked small and medium enterprises and mid-market opportunities, according to industry data.
This structural characteristic creates distinct opportunities in the region compared to Western markets, where private credit has traditionally been more concentrated in sponsor-backed transactions.
