‘Two-way and integrated’: Financial professional services firms see more Singapore-Indonesia work 

[SINGAPORE] When growth at home became harder to come by, Indonesian shipowner Sinarmas LDA Maritime (SLM) looked north to Singapore – and brought its adviser with it.

The company is ready to spend between US$50 million and US$200 million on acquisitions, with Singapore its primary target, chief executive Matthieu Lavoine told The Business Times.

That could fund one large acquisition or three to four smaller deals. SLM has already looked at two potential acquisitions this year, but walked away after valuations came in around 25 per cent above what it was prepared to pay.

Helping it navigate the push is professional services firm Forvis Mazars, which has worked with the company for more than a decade and advised it on acquisitions in both Indonesia and Singapore.

For Lavoine, having one adviser on both sides of the border cuts out another layer of complexity.

“It was kind of difficult to think I would hire one adviser in Singapore, one adviser in Jakarta, and then do the alignment – it was too complicated,” he said. “I’d rather my adviser do the alignment than have to be on top of it all the time.”

More companies are finding themselves in the same position.

Professional services firms told BT that Singapore-Indonesia business is becoming increasingly two-way: Singapore companies are still pushing into Indonesia, while Indonesian groups are using Singapore for regional expansion, fundraising and corporate functions.

The result is broader work for advisers across mergers and acquisitions (M&A), tax, structuring, technology and post-deal services.

More complex work – but not necessarily more deals

Singapore has long been a major source of investment into Indonesia.

It was Indonesia’s largest foreign investor in 2025, with US$17.4 billion of realised investment, representing 30.9 per cent of the total, indicated Indonesia’s investment ministry.

In the other direction, Singapore received about S$981 million of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Indonesia that year, Singapore Department of Statistics data showed.

Gene Kwee, partner and head of tax at Forvis Mazars in Singapore, estimated that the firm’s Singapore-Indonesia cross-border work has grown by more than 30 per cent over the past five years.

Sebastien Gautier, managing partner and head of outsourcing for Forvis Mazars in Indonesia, noted that work is now “quite balanced” in both directions, with larger Indonesian groups increasingly using Singapore for regional headquarters, fundraising, M&A, treasury and expansion into other Asean markets.

BDO has seen Indonesia-related enquiries and engagements rise by around 30 per cent compared with two to five years ago, said Roger Loo, executive director for management consulting.

But the trend is not simply one of surging deal volumes.

EY and KPMG both described activity as steady, while Deloitte said deal numbers have largely held flat.

Sumit Punwani, partner and head of capital markets services, corporate finance and deal advisory at KPMG in Singapore, said that investors are also becoming more selective amid global macroeconomic uncertainty.

Valuations, regulatory requirements and finding the right local partner or platform are playing a bigger role in investment decisions, he noted.

“What has changed is the nature of the deals, their value and clients’ expectations,” added Muralidhar MSK, regional managing partner for strategy, risk and transactions at Deloitte South-east Asia.

Bigger mandates, however

Deloitte is seeing fewer small or opportunistic transactions and more large, structured deals spanning multiple markets, jurisdictions and business lines.

Clients also increasingly want support beyond completing a transaction, including post-deal value creation.

Kwee said that individual engagements are increasingly leading to follow-up work in tax, M&A, transfer pricing, international tax structuring and compliance.

The firm has also seen more Singapore businesses over the past six months moving beyond preliminary market assessments into acquisitions, joint ventures, structuring and investment decisions.

At EY, Asean and Singapore managing partner Liew Nam Soon pointed to demand around digital transformation, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and supply chain resilience.

KPMG, meanwhile, is seeing demand across transactions, corporate structuring and regulatory advice.

Punwani said that healthcare is one area of activity, with larger South-east Asian groups using acquisitions to build regional platforms and gain access to local capabilities and a broader patient base.

Across the firms, digital infrastructure, energy, financial services and consumer businesses also feature prominently.

Following the client

SLM’s activities show how one relationship can widen as a client expands.

The company was established in 2014 as a joint venture between Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas and French shipping group LD Armateurs.

It has since grown from around 10 vessels in 2014 to about 120 in Indonesia.

As the domestic market matured and further market share gains became tougher, it began looking overseas.

It acquired Singapore-based shipowner Pacific Workboats for an undisclosed sum in August this year, giving it an established platform from which to expand.

Forvis Mazars had already advised the group on two acquisitions in Indonesia.

It also provides payroll services for its roughly 2,500 Indonesian employees, and has worked on tax, accounting and preliminary due diligence.

SLM now wants to roughly double its Singapore fleet from about 10 vessels to 20 within three to five years.

Indonesia generates around 90 per cent of its revenue today, with Singapore accounting for the remaining 10 per cent. Lavoine wants the split between Indonesia and overseas markets to reach 70:30 within three to five years.

“That doesn’t mean I want to reduce my revenue in Indonesia,” he stressed. “I want to grow (in) Indonesia, but I want to grow even faster outside Indonesia.”