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March 22 (UPI) -- The youngest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo has acquired a 40% stake in a local soccer team after his brother was elected mayor of the team's hometown of Solo. Kaesang Pangarep now owns a portion of PT Persis Solo Saestu along with company commissioner Kevin Nugroho, who owns a 30% stake. Indonesian State Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir purchased an additional 20% of the company, according to Indonesia's Detik News.
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Nugroho is a young entrepreneur based in Solo, and Thohir is a former shareholder of Football Club Internazionale Milano, or Inter Milan.
Widodo's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 33, was elected mayor of Solo, a city in central Java, in December. The city also is the president's hometown and a Widodo stronghold. Widodo was re-elected president in 2019.
Gibran has said he expects Thohir to bring "professional and transparent management" to the soccer team, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Thohir had said he and Indonesian businessman Anindya Bakrie are working to close another deal that could result in a 51% ownership in British football club Oxford United. The stake would be acquired from Thai businessman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth.
Before Gibran was nominated to his father's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, PDI-P, the president's oldest son operated a restaurant business.
Kaesang, 26, is an entrepreneur and blogger with 2.2 million Twitter followers. According to reports, the president's youngest son said during a shareholders' meeting that he seeks improvements to Persis' standing.
There also is talk of taking the club public.
"IPO is an option and could be done when the time is right," Nugroho said in a text message.
In 2019, Widodo won 21 of 34 provinces with 55.5% or 85.6 million votes. In January amid the coronavirus pandemic Widodo encouraged Indonesians to take the Sinovac vaccine by receiving the injection in public.
Indonesia was the first country outside China to approve the Sinovac vaccine.
