This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:18 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2026.
Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) is pushing to acquire a drinking water facility operations corporations held by Indonesia's state-owned construction and infrastructure investment company. It is seen as a strategic move to expand its water resources management business portfolio with Indonesia, a key infrastructure hub in Southeast Asia, at the center.
On the 22nd, according to the investment banking (IB) industry, the water resources corporation is reviewing an acquisition of the management control of PT.PPIN (PT PP Infrastruktur), a drinking water facility operating subsidiary owned by Indonesian state-owned corporations PT.PP (Pembangunan Perumahan). After conducting a feasibility study for the equity acquisition business, including due diligence in finance, legal, tax and technology, it plans to begin full-scale acquisition talks in the second half of this year. The transaction amount is expected to be decided at around the mid-100 billion won in Hanwha.
PT.PP is a comprehensive construction and infrastructure investment corporations under Indonesia's Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, established in 1953, and carries out social overhead capital (SOC) businesses such as infrastructure, real estate and energy. The largest shareholder of PT.PP is the Indonesian government, which holds a 51% equity. PT.PPIN, which the water resources corporation is examining, is PT.PP's infrastructure investment specialist subsidiary. It holds equity in seven special purpose companies (SPCs) that operate drinking water facilities across Indonesia. The acquisition target is 100% of PT.PPIN equity owned by PT.PP.
PT.PPIN's drinking water facility business sites are distributed across Indonesia's Java, Sumatra and Batam islands. As Indonesia's economic structures and demand characteristics differ greatly by island, it is seen as a strategy to secure stable cash flow through investment not in a single region but in multiple regions.
Java is a core economic zone where more than half of Indonesia's population is concentrated, and demand for drinking water continues to rise with industrialization and urbanization. Sumatra is an industrial belt centered on palm oil, mining and manufacturing. Expanding industrial water and urban water infrastructure is cited as a key government priority there. Batam is a free trade zone (FTZ) adjacent to Singapore, where industrial park development for electronics, shipbuilding, logistics and data centers is progressing rapidly, making stable supplies of industrial and domestic water essential.
The water resources corporation received a request from the Indonesian side for talks on selling PT.PPIN equity in the middle of last year and has since conducted on-site due diligence and profitability analysis on its own. PT.PP is pushing to sell PT.PPIN as well as PT.CRI (PT Celebes Railways Indonesia), a rail infrastructure specialist, to focus on its core construction institutional sector. At the time, a total of three parties—two foreign investors, including the water resources corporation, and one local strategic investor (SI)—were said to have conducted due diligence to acquire PT.PPIN.
The water resources corporation has so far carried out overseas business by participating in projects such as water treatment plant or dam construction. Then, starting with an investment last year in Vietnamese water treatment company Phu My Binh, it moved to acquire equity in overseas corporations. If it decides to acquire management control of PT.PPIN this time, it will be the second case of acquiring equity in an overseas corporations. With the domestic water management market entering a mature stage, it is interpreted as choosing a direct acquisition method as part of its overseas expansion strategy.
A water resources corporation official said, "After receiving the request from the Indonesian side last year, we conducted our own field survey and profitability analysis," and added, "We plan to proceed with negotiations for equity acquisition in the second half after soon going through a feasibility study by an external institution."