Vallar, a “cash shell” founded by banking scion Nathaniel Rothschild, 39, plans to create one of the world’s largest coal producers in a partnership with Indonesia’s Bakrie family, whose Bumi company owns Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and has become the largest single shareholder in Vallar, according to
a
Financial Times
report.
After a share exchange, Vallar will be renamed Bumi Plc.The Bakries will have a 43% stake, private equity financier Rosan Roeslani will have 25% and Rothschild, who invested $180 million of his own money, will have 11%, the article said.
Rothschild is the only son of Jacob Rothschild. the fourth Baron Rothschild. In his younger years, he had a reputation as a hard-partying playboy, the
FT
profile noted. He worked in New York at Lazard Brothers and Gleacher Partners, an investment advisory, but returned to London in his mid-twenties. “Like his ancestors, money has since come to define his life,” the article said. He joined Atticus, a hedge fund that managed $23 billion until the credit crunch, when its main fund closed.
More than Rothschild’s desire for money is the wish to forge a legacy…. Ever since Atticus closed, the jury of executive opinion had been hung on whether Rothschild would emerge from the shadow of his father.
The Bakrie family enterprise, which is run by three Indonesian brothers, began when their father traded pepper and coffee under Dutch colonial rule in the 1940s and grew into a conglomerate, the
FT
article said.
Since Suharto, the Bakrie bank balance has suffered. The 1997 collapse of the rupiah nearly bankrupted the empire. An economic boom after 2000 allowed the family to re-accumulate a majority stake and invest in a new headquarters…. Then came the subprime lending crisis. Hundreds of millions of dollars of value were wiped off the Bakrie companies, sparking fears that they were again teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Their current debt stands at some $4.4 billion.
In 2006, a drilling hole operated by the Bakries’ oil and gas company gushed noxious med and gas, displacing tens of thousands of people; more recently, the family has faced allegations of tax evasion and corruption charges against three of their businesses, including Bumi, the
FT
report noted.
Rothschild closed his deal with the Bakries after just two meetings over three weeks, according to the report. (Source:
Financial Times,
Jan. 14, 2011.)
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