Bumi shareholders to vote on split from Bakries

Shareholders in Bumi PLC will vote on Dec. 4 to sell a 29.2% stake in the Bakrie family’s Indonesian coal company, PT Bumi Resources, for $501 million,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported

.

An entity controlled by Bumi’s outgoing chairman, Samin Tan, would pay $223 million to acquire the Bakries’ remaining minority stake in Bumi PLC. Tan would then control almost half the company, the

Journal

article said.

As part of the separation, Bumi would change its name to Asia Resource Minerals PLC, the article said.

Bumi PLC, which began when financier Nat Rothschild created a London-listed investment firm that acquired 25% of Bumi Resources and 75% of Berau Coal Energy, “has struggled for most of its life, with Bakrie Group debt problems, accusations of low governance standards and the sliding price of coal combining to hurt Bumi’s share price,” the

Journal

article said. (Source:

Wall Street Journal,

Nov. 7, 2013.)