Jakarta. Rosan Roeslani, the boss to Indonesia's newest sovereign wealth fund Danantara, denied Monday reports of the superholding possibly consolidating the assets of its predecessor Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).

President Prabowo Subianto has just launched Danantara, which he claimed could be one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. It will manage the assets of seven major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) across various strategic sectors, namely oil and gas firm Pertamina; electricity company PLN; banks BRI, BNI, and Mandiri; telecommunications company Telkom; mining holding MIND ID. Danantara will start with $20 billion in initial investment cash to finance high-impact projects on mineral processing, food production, renewable energy, to name a few. Danantara is even set to eventually manage over $900 billion in assets.

During his second presidential term, Prabowo's predecessor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo launched INA as a means to catapult the country's development. Danantara's launch has sparked questions over what would happen to INA. Past reports suggest that the long-delayed Danantara would eventually have the $10.5 billion INA under its wings. Danantara's chief executive officer Rosan Roeslani has dismissed such claims, saying that INA will remain a separate entity.

"[INA] has its own identity," Rosan told reporters at the palace complex.

Rosan is the current investment minister. Despite his new job at Danantara, Rosan will keep his ministerial post. 

"Danantara mainly deals with investment, so [having me as the investment minister and the fund's chief executive officer] will build a robust synergy [within the government]. So we [the ministry] will not only focus on dealing with the investment roadmap and permits. But we can accelerate the mobilization of the funds that we have," Rosan said.

Such model of having the investment minister helm a country's sovereign wealth fund is not new, according to Rosan. For instance, his Emirati counterpart Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi is also the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi-based fund ADQ.

Prabowo has appointed Deputy SOE Minister Dony Oskaria as Danantara's chief operations officer. Coal mining entrepreneur Pandu Sjahrir will become Danantara's chief investment officer. Pandu is the nephew to ex-chief investment czar and the current presidential senior economic advisor Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. 

Danantara previously faced some regulatory setbacks to its launch as it would require Indonesia to make changes to the previous SOE law. The amended law finally gained parliamentary approval earlier this year. According to a copy of the amended law, Danantara will manage the dividends of the operational and investment SOE holdings. The fund will hold 99 percent of the Series B shares of both holdings. The SOE Ministry will keep one percent of the so-called Dwiwarna Series A share. 

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