Bumi denies Rothchild proposal

published 2 November 2012

Bumi, the FTSE 250 mining company, has confirmed that it has not received a proposal from former Bumi director Nathaniel Rothschild.

Following a number of reports which speculated that such a proposal has been made, the company was forced to make the announcement shortly after midday.

Shares in the firm initially leapt on the reports and - despite the announcement - were up almost 15% by mid-afternoon trading.

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Last month it was announced that the company has appointed the Rothschild Group as its financial adviser, a moves which came as no surprise after Bumi called in the group to evaluate proposed transactions by major Bumi stakeholder, the Bakrie Group, that are intended to bring to an end board room strife at the Indonesian mining group.

On Thursday 11th October, shares in Bumi leapt after the Bakrie Group tabled an offer under which it would swap its stake in the group for a stake of equivalent value in Bumi Resources, a subsidiary of Bumi.

It was hoped that the proposal could bring the curtain down on the fractious relations between the Bakries, one of Indonesia's wealthiest and most influential families, and another of the Bumi's original backers, financier Nat Rothschild. However, on Tuesday 16th Rothschild resigned from the board of Bumi, saying he had lost confidence in the management's ability to stand up for investors.

In addition, the Bakrie Group also made a conditional proposal on Thursday 11th to buy back the remaining 18.9% shareholding in Bumi Tbk for cash before Christmas 2012, and made a conditional proposal to make a cash offer within the next six months for the company's approximately 84.7% shareholding in PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk.

The independent non-executive directors of Bumi are relying on Rothschild Group's advice to determine whether the Bakries' proposals represent fair value to Bumi shareholders.