I think, the last thing you want to do in Indonesia as a foreign Investor (In this case Intrepid) is get caught in between a fight between godzilla and king kong. It comes down to a coin toss strategy. Surya Paloh is a skilled operator, pretty wealthy and known to be aggressive (some would say cutthroat). A lot of his assets were owned by other tycoons previous to the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 90's. There are a lot of people that say he "outsmarted" his way to those assets. On the otherhand, Edwin Soeryadjaya who is more than 20 or 30 times wealthier than Surya Paloh, is also known for being extremely smart. Now the difference is, Edwin doesnt have the reputation for "screwing" other powerful groups in Indo, whereas Surya is famous for it. Now when push comes to shove, the powerful Indonesian Businessman will not get in Edwin's way. He has not wronged them. Surya Paloh has the risk of his past deeds coming back to haunt him. In Surya's favor, he has played in the world of politics for a long time so he is definitely more battle hardened in these types of "sticky situations." As this is all taking place in Indonesia, who knows? Its a very complex place.
So the question we must answer is simple...... Do you want to take a punt on Godzilla or King Kong?
IAU Price at posting:
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