STOCKS NEWS INDONESIA-Multipolar surges on Matahari stake-sale talk

Indonesian investment holding company PT Multipolar jumped as much as 24.4 percent on Friday, following the likely stake sale in its retail division PT Matahari Department Store Tbk.

Private equity firm CVC is looking to sell its 40 percent stake in Matahari, seeking a deal valuation of $1.2-1.5 billion.

"Should a deal at this valuation eventuate, we see upside of more than 150 percent to Multipolar, which owns 20 percent of the asset. The potential transaction acts as a benchmark for retailing valuations in the market," research house CLSA Asia Pacific Markets said in a note on Friday.

"We assume Multipolar proportionately sells 40 percent of its ownership (or 8 percent of LPPF's total shares) and value the stake based on the above potential valuation range. We arrive at 1,106-1,284 rupiah/share fair equity value for Multipolar, without assuming any holding discount."

Last month, Multipolar and its supermarket division PT Matahari Putra Prima rose as much as 18 percent in one session after Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings bought 26.1 percent stake in Indonesia's second biggest hypermarket-chain operator worth $300 million.

Multipolar shares were up 22.22 percent at 550 rupiah and were the most traded by volume. The broader Jakarta Composite Index was up 0.01 percent.

1155 (0455 GMT)

(Reporting by Andjarsari Paramaditha, Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)