Antam withdraws from acquiring Newmont stake

State mining company PT Antam withdrew plans to acquire part of a 14 percent divested stake in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, a subsidiary of US mining giant Newmont.

Antam had planned to team up with the regional government of West Nusa Tenggara province, but the company withdrew the plan as it and the regional government failed to reach an agreement on the shareholder composition.

"Antam proposed that the divested stake be split equally, 50 percent for Antam and 50 percent for the regional government. Our proposal is that the regional government gets 25 percent, while Antam and PT Multicapital [the regional's government partner in the acquisition process] will each get 37.5 percent. Antam evaluated the offer and decided to withdraw from the acquisition," West Nusa Tenggara Governor Muhammad Zainul Majdi said Wednesday.

Zainul refused to give details of Antam's reasons for withdrawing from the acquisition, simply saying that it was not in line with the company's strategic plans.