UK-based CVC Capital Partners has sold a 12 per cent stake in Indonesian retail giant PT Matahari.

Matahari owns hypermarkets and department stores across the nation – and is actively expanding its footprint as Indonesia’s middle class expands.

CVC has declined to comment on the transactions, which came to light through regulatory filings.

The company now has just two per cent of Matahari’s shares, suggesting they, too, will be offloaded in the near future.

The timing of the transactions has surprised some analysts who have a ‘buy’ rating on the retailer’s stock, suggesting CVC might have extracted more value had it sold later.

The shares were sold in two blocks – the first for £195 million for eight per cent of the stockholding to mainly institutional investors.

The second stake, of four per cent, was sold to an unidentified private investor.

Matahari was founded in 1982. It recently opened its 108th hypermarket and has more planned for the 2015 calendar year.