Shareholders of Bumi PLC rejected financier Nat Rothschild’s plan to gain control ofhte company and replace the chairman, the CEO and most directors. Bumi will now seek shareholders’ approval to separate from Indonesia’s Bakrie family,
Bloomberg reported.
Both Rothschild and Bumi wanted the Bakries out of the company, but Bumi said the move could be accomplished only with the current board, the Bloomberg report noted.
The Bakries have proposed exchanging their 23.8% of Bumi for 10.3% of Indonesian unit PT Bumi Resources, the Bloomberg article said. Under their plan, Bumi PLC would sell the remaining 18.9% of its stake in Bumi resources to the family. An analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. told Bloomberg that a rejection of Rothschild’s plan to oust many of the directors would make it easier to split Bumi PLC from Bumi Resources and thus help raise the share price.
Nineteen of 22 proposals were rejected at the extraordinary meeting, but shareholders supported Rothschild’s proposed removal of two directors, including Bakrie representative Nathin Rathod. They also supported one of Rothschild’s proposed board members, the Bloomberg article said.
Rothschild and the Bakries co-founded Bumi in 2010 but have been feuding over control of the company, which has faced allegations of financial irregularities.
An unnamed shareholder who backed Rothschild
told the
Financial Times
that the Bumi board “doesn’t seem to want to” actively seek to recover the money allegedly lost from its Indonesian subsidiaries.
The U.K. Takeover Panel said in December that it would investigate why it was not made aware of a relationship between the Bakries and Rosan Roeslani, a key Bumi shareholder, the
FT
report noted. Rothschild’s plan had been supported by institutional shareholders but was doomed after Roeslani sold his 10% stake to new owners who voted against it, the article said.
Bumi announced that its chairman, Indonesian tycoon Samin Tan, would step down, the
Financial Times
reported
in a separate article.
Rothschild’s mother, Lady Serena Rothschild, accompanied him to the meeting, that
FT
article said. (Sources: Bloomberg, Feb. 21, 2013;
Financial Times,
Feb. 22, 2013.)
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