Alfian and Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 11/12/2009 10:48 AM
State miner PT Aneka Tambang has dropped its plans to buy divested shares in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, which could pave the way for PT Multicapital, a unit of coal giant PT Bumi Resources, to buy a larger stake.
Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) is a local subsidiary of US mining giant Newmont Corp. which operates the Batu Hijau mine, Indonesia’s second largest copper mine.
NNT’s foreign shareholders, Newmont and Sumitomo, must incrementally sell a total of 31 percent of their stake in the company by 2010 to the government, be it central or regional, or to local parties designated by the government, based on a 1986 contract.
Earlier, Antam planned to team up with a consortium of regional administrations in West Nusa Tenggara in acquiring the divested stake in NNT, but the company withdrew from the consortium as it failed to agree on shareholder composition.
Antam president director Alwinsyah Loebis said the company had wanted to acquire at least a 15.5 percent stake in NNT, or 50 percent of the divested shares.
“This is in line with our strategy. But, as this cannot be agreed, we decided not to participate in the West Nusa Tenggara government’s consortium,” Alwin said in a statement published Wednesday.
Antam and the West Nusa Tenggara regional governments were supposed to talk about the divestment of a further 14 percent stake, actually scheduled for divestment in 2008 and 2009.
But, in the discussion that ensued, they looked at the divestment of the whole amount of shares to be divested, the West Nusa Tenggara governments’ spokesman Andi Hadiyanto said.
However, State Minister for State Enterprises Mustafa Abubakar said he deplored Antam’s decision, saying: “Antam should tell us about the result of [their] negotiations first before deciding to not join in the divestment process,” Mustafa said.
He said the move by Antam, which was supposed to represent central government in the consortium, was not final as he would consult first with the Finance Minister.
“We are waiting for some suggestion from the finance ministry. We expect Antam will rejoin the consortium,” he said.
He added that Thursday is the deadline for the signing of a sales purchase agreement to buy 31 percent of Newmont stakes. “So, tomorrow (Thursday) I will contact the Finance Minister.”
Meanwhile Andi, who is also a director of PT Daerah Maju Bersaing (DMB), a joint venture company formed by the provincial, Sumbawa regency and West Sumbawa regency administrations, said local governments had proposed in the negotiation with Antam that, of the 31 percent divested stake, the three regional governments should get 25 percent (7.75 percent each), while Antam and Multicapital would get 37.5 percent each (11.625 percent).
“This is the most strategic shareholder composition for us,” said Andi without further explanations.
DMB is financially backed by Multicapital, with the two forming a joint venture called PT Multi Daerah Bintang (MDB).
Antam’s decision to pull out from the consortium may enable Multicapital to control more shares in NNT. Last week, the three local governments and NNT’s foreign shareholders had signed a sales and purchase deal for a 10 percent stake.
The regional governments were represented by MDB.
Multicapital will finance the deal for the 10 percent stake, valued at US$391 million. It will own 75 percent of the 10 percent divested stake, with the local governments taking 25 percent between them.
Following Antam’s decision, if it stands, Andi said a similar scheme would be adopted for the divestment of a further 14 percent of the NNT shares.
