Bakrie to raise stake in units

Ika Krismantari ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/01/2009 12:34 PM  |  Business

The widely diversified group PT Bakrie and Brothers, is setting its sights on increasing its stake in several key subsidiaries, including PT Bumi Resources, Asia's largest thermal coal exporter.

Bakrie is planning to add stake ownership in Bumi and PT Bakrieland Development by the end of this year through a combination of its partners, and by buying a stake owned by public investors, Dileep Srivastava, the director for investor relations at Bakrie, said Tuesday.

"If we can get it before December, it would be better," he said after the firm's annual shareholder meeting.

However, Srivastava did not mention how much of the budget would be allocated and where it would come from.

He explained that Bakrie's current share ownership in Bumi stood at nearly 20 percent, both directly and indirectly. But, it had the option to buy back 4.2 percent of shares from the Ancora Group, which in November took over Bakrie's debt amounting to US$72 million to JP Morgan in return for the stake.

"By the end of this year, we hope we can get at least 27 percent of Bumi shares," Srivastava said.

Before, Bakrie owned a 35 percent stake in Bumi and 40 percent in Bakrieland. However, as part of the shares had been pledged to secure loans, its share ownership in those companies as well as other units had decreased.

Due to the share-pledging mechanism, Bakrie's ownership in Bakrieland has been reduced to 15 percent.

But, Srivastava said that Bakrie has the option to buy back 7.78 percent of Bakrieland shares from lenders and has decided to exercise the option this year.

Currently, it owns a 48 percent stake in PT Bakrie Telecom and 42 percent in PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantation.

Bakrie director, Ari S. Hudaya, said the firm remained open to opportunities of increasing the company's ownership in the future.

Analysts have seen the move as one of Bakrie's efforts to regain its status as a top investment holding in the country, after barely escaping a deep debt trap last year, which was partly due to a plunge in the share prices of its key subsidiaries.

Bakrie finance director Eddy Suparno said the company's outstanding loans stood at Rp 5.56 trillion ($544.88 million), including Rp 4.26 trillion it owes to the Seychelles-based Piper, Price and Company - the representative of Northstar Pacific, which has taken over Bakrie's debts to Odickson Finance.

"All those loans have been restructured. All lenders have agreed to extend the loan maturity's period until 2012," he said.

Tuesday's meeting also saw the appointment of Bobby Gafur S. Umar as the company's new CEO, replacing Michael E. Lucente. Bobby was previously Bakrie's vice president commissioner.

Bobby will lead Bakrie group side-by-side with Nalinkant A. Rathod, who remains the company's president director.

Lucente, the company's former CEO will hold the position of the chief investment officer.

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