Indonesia’s tycoons are stepping in to buy shares in their own companies as the Jakarta market reels from a steep selloff, with Boy Thohir’s family vehicle and Edwin Soeryadjaya among the most visible buyers after the JCI slumped to a six-year low.
Indonesia tycoons buy AADI, ADRO, ESSA, SRTG, TAPG, AVIA
The pattern matters because insider buying during a broad market drawdown is often read as a vote of confidence in fundamentals, even if it does not by itself reverse the market’s direction. It also highlights a widening gap between local controlling shareholders, who can deploy private capital, and public investors who have been facing mark-to-market losses, foreign outflows and heightened uncertainty over Indonesia’s equity regime.
Sentiment Indicators
Boy Thohir’s Trinugraha Thohir bought shares in Adaro Andalan Indonesia, Alamtri Resources Indonesia and Essa Industries Indonesia for about Rp 3 billion, while increasing its stakes only marginally. On Monday, it bought 102,600 AADI shares at around Rp 9,750-9,800 each, 470,000 ADRO shares at Rp 2,130 and 2.25 million ESSA shares at Rp 444, each disclosed as an investment transaction. Edwin Soeryadjaya separately lifted his holding in Saratoga Investama Sedaya to 36.03% from 35.99% after spending about Rp 8.72 billion on 5.81 million shares.
Other corporate insiders joined the buying. Triputra Agro Persada commissioners and directors added to TAPG, while Robert Christian Tanoko, son of Hermanto Tanoko, bought 6.91 million Avia Avian shares for about Rp 2.22 billion, lifting his voting stake to 2.3205%.
The purchases come against a harsh backdrop for Indonesian equities. The Jakarta benchmark has been under heavy pressure, and technical readings on several of the bought names still point to a fragile chart structure rather than a clean reversal. Saratoga’s shares closed at 1,670 rupiah on Oct. 26, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while its RSI sat at 42.3, a sign the stock is no longer oversold but still lacks momentum. ADRO and AVIA showed similar patterns, with prices below their recent moving averages and RSI levels in the 30s to low 40s.
For investors, the signal is two-sided. The bull case is that controlling shareholders are using weakness to add exposure, suggesting they see value in assets the market has marked down too aggressively. The bear case is that insider buying is arriving after a deep correction, when prices are already depressed and sentiment is still poor. That means the trades may stabilize individual counters at the margin, but they do not resolve the broader issues weighing on Jakarta shares, including foreign selling and the market’s struggle to recover confidence.
The immediate focus will be whether more controlling shareholders follow suit and whether the buying translates into better price support for affiliated stocks. Until then, the main takeaway for investors is that Indonesia’s elite are deploying capital into weakness, but the market itself is still waiting for proof that the selloff has run its course.
| Entity | Gains | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Tycoon-controlled shareholders | ▲Lower entry prices | ▼Public investors nursing losses |
| AADI, ADRO, ESSA, SRTG, TAPG, AVIA | ▲Insider support | ▼Weak market sentiment |
| Jakarta equities/JCI | ▲Potential confidence signal | ▼Ongoing selloff and outflows |
| Short sellers / cautious investors | ▲Volatility remains | ▼Buying pressure from insiders |
