BUMI reduces stake in BRMS

JAKARTA. Major coal miner PT Bumi Resources (BUMI) has gradually decreased its stake in diversified miner PT Bumi Resources Minerals (BRMS) to almost half its original holding following the latter’s initial public offering in late 2010.

According to the share ownership report filed by BRMS’ securities administration bureau PT Sinartama Gunita to the Indonesia
Stock Exchange (IDX) on Monday, BUMI currently holds a 45.19 percent stake in BRMS. Another big shareholder is Long Haul Indonesia (LHI) with 12.8 percent. The report does not detail the ownership of the remaining 42.01 percent as of Feb. 22 this year.

Based on similar reports submitted by the bureau, BUMI has been divesting its ownership in BRMS since March 2012. BUMI’s stake in BRMS as of the end of March last year stood at 85.97 percent, declining from 87.09 percent a month earlier, which was the proportion after BRMS’ IPO and the execution of mandatory convertible notes.

Prior to its IPO, BRMS was 99.8 percent owned by BUMI and 0.19 percent by PT Lumbung Capital. BRMS offloaded 3.3 billion shares in the November 2010 IPO, which reduced BUMI’s ownership in the company to 81.83 percent and Lumbung Capital’s to 0.0001 percent, according to BRMS’ financial report as of the end of 2011.

In March 2011, BUMI executed conversion of BRMS’ mandatory convertible notes to the latter’s 7.4 billion shares. Consequently, BUMI’s ownership in BRMS stood at 87.09 percent by March 2011.

Neither BUMI nor BRMS’ financial reports provide any details about the ownership changes or who had purchased the BRMS stake.

The two companies’ financial reports for the third quarter of 2012 mentioned that BUMI remained 87.09 percent shareholder of BRMS. However, figures submitted by the bureau showed that BUMI’s shareholding in BRMS was 60.9 percent as of Sept. 30, 2012.

Moreover, the two companies’ financial reports say nothing about the move by Long Haul Indonesia into BRMS. According to the securities administration bureau filing, Long Haul Indonesia has been a significant shareholder in BRMS since August 2012, by acquiring a 10.85 percent stake from BUMI. Long Haul increased its ownership to 14.83 percent in September 2012.

Long Haul Indonesia retained its stake in BRMS and in December 2012 its shareholding in the company reduced to 12.8 percent.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Bakrie Group senior vice president Christopher Fong could not confirm whether the Bakrie family, owner of Long Haul Holdings Limited, was also the owner of Long Haul Indonesia.

BUMI president director Ari Hudaya as well as director and corporate secretary Dileep Srivastava could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Srivastava has previously said that BUMI would monetize its non core assets, including BRMS along with its subsidiaries. BUMI’s main assets are currently coal miners PT Kaltim Prima Coal (65 percent) and PT Arutmin (70 percent).

Ari previously said that BUMI was in talks with two investors interested in purchasing the company’s stake in another subsidiary PT Fajar Bumi Sakti and hoped to see progress in the negotiations in this first quarter. BUMI currently holds 50 percent of Fajar Bumi.

Shares in BUMI closed at Rp 800 apiece (US$8 US cents) on Tuesday, up 1.27 percent from a day earlier. Meanwhile, shares in BRMS dropped 8.06 percent to Rp 285 apiece on Tuesday compared to Monday.

The Jakarta Post