Bumi update

Nathan Rothschild

Reports in the press today that Ol Natty is close to finalising funding for an additional $270m from investors which looks to be money to be used to buy out the balance 15% of Berau Coal from the Bakries.

Nat Rothschild, the financier behind coal miner Bumi Plc, has secured the backing of mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland for his proposal to unwind the London-listed company’s relationship with Indonesia’s influential Bakrie family.

Mr Friedland, the billionaire who founded Ivanhoe Mines, which developed the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, has agreed to invest $50m, according to people familiar with the matter. Ivanhoe is now controlled by Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian group.

Mr Rothschild, who earlier this month made a counter-proposal to the Bakries’ offer to buy back Bumi Plc’s Indonesian mining assets, was finalising commitments from investors for $270m in equity funding, they added.

He told the investment bank advising the board of Bumi Plc that he had the support of Mr Friedland as well as several other investors, the sources added, and intended to provide further details of his plans shortly.

Mr Rothschild’s consortium is likely to include Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the Indonesian businessman and brother of general-turned-politician Prabowo Subianto, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr Rothschild has garnered pledges of support from several existing institutional investors in the group, the person familiar with the matter added, and is in discussions with a large North American pension fund about backing his proposal.

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