GoTo Group appointed a new chief executive officer to replace Patrick Walujo, a move that’s expected to speed the takeover of Indonesia’s largest internet company by Grab Holdings Ltd.
Chief operating officer Hans Patuwo will take the helm from Walujo, the company said Monday. His appointment—which requires shareholder approval—comes after GoTo co-founders and prominent investors including SoftBank Group Corp. pushed for Walujo’s ouster over a dismal stock performance.
The change-up marks an about-face for GoTo, which in January said Walujo, 50, would run the company for years to come. The former investment banker helped usher the Indonesian ride-hailing and delivery giant to its first profit over a two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO. But the company lost more than 40% of its value over the same period, and he also opposed a takeover by Singapore’s Grab.
Shares of GoTo climbed as much as 6.3% in Jakarta Monday, giving the company a market value of about $5 billion. Grab, traded in New York, has a market capitalization of $20 billion.
“The transition could signal a pivot towards operational focus and revive the long-stalled proposed Grab-GoTo merger,” Citigroup Inc. analysts Ferry Wong and Ryan Davis wrote.
Patuwo, 49, is now set to steer a company mired in a persistent funk, grappling with a global shift towards artificial intelligence and preparing to revive talks with Grab. The likelihood of a takeover—after years of on-and-off discussions—is increasing after Indonesia’s government said it’s talking to the two companies about a deal.
The country’s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, is set to get involved in a plan to combine the companies. The fund began exploring a minority stake in a combined entity early this year, people familiar with the matter said in June.
Its involvement could smooth concerns that consumers will lose out in a marriage of the country’s two biggest ride-hailing providers. “Danantara’s possible minority stake in a potential combined entity would serve as both a symbolic and structural safeguard of national interest,” and would assuage monopoly concerns, the Citigroup analysts wrote.
Patuwo joined the company more than seven years ago from an Indonesian conglomerate, according to his LinkedIn profile. He started at the ride-hailing arm Gojek, building relationships with drivers and merchants and expanding its network across the country. Patuwo then moved to head payments and financial services.
Among other leadership changes, GoTo said it’s appointing co-founder Andre Soelistyo to the board of commissioners. In Indonesia, company commissioners typically function as a separate body from directors, serving as a sort of steering committee on matters including corporate governance.
Soelistyo, who headed the company before he was replaced by Walujo, helped carry out the merger of Gojek and e-commerce firm Tokopedia that created Indonesia’s biggest internet company. Previously, he was an executive director at Northstar Group, Walujo’s former private equity firm.
GoTo shareholders will vote on matters including the leadership shift in an extraordinary general meeting on Dec. 17.
