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he country'€™s biggest coal miner, PT Bumi Resources, failed for the second time on Friday to secure shareholders'€™ approval for the company'€™s US$1.3 billion debt to equity swap with Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC).

The first one failed in mid-year.

Bumi'€™s corporate secretary, Dileep Srivastava, said the shareholders'€™ vote on the proposed debt to equity swap could not be carried out because the number of shareholders attending the shareholders meeting was far fewer than the needed quorum.

Only 24.83 percent of shareholders '€” or half of the needed quorum of 50 percent plus one quorum needed to concede on the debt restructuring '€” showed up for the planned swap stakes.

He said that the shareholders'€™ vote for the debt to equity swap would be postponed to Jan. 10.

Bumi is set to swap its ownership in a number of subsidiaries and sell new shares to pay off its $1.3 billion debt to its creditor, the CIC.

Following the failed agreement over the restructured debt, he said that the company would report to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to reschedule the extraordinary shareholders'€™ meeting by two or three weeks and to request a lower required quorum.

Srivastava was upbeat that the rescheduled meeting would generate more attendance, considering that debt restructuring is of interest to all shareholders.

By agreeing on the debt to equity swap, he said, the company would be able to not only pay its debt and $250 million annual interest but also boost the company'€™s dwindling financial performance next year.

Under the agreement with CIC, Bumi will swap 42 percent of ownership in its non-coal unit, PT Bumi Resources Minerals (BRMS), and 19 percent, respectively, in PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), Indocoal Resources (Cayman) Ltd. and PT Indocoal Kaltim resources.

Bumi currently holds a 87 percent stake in BRMS, 65 percent in KPC and 70 percent in both Indocoal Resources and Indocoal Kaltim.

Besides swapping the ownership stakes in its subsidiaries, Bumi will also issue new shares worth up to $150 million to the CIC in exchange for clearing its $1.3 billion debt, which will mature in 2014 and 2015.

The Bakrie family secured approval from the shareholders of Bumi plc to take back Bumi Resources on Tuesday from the London-listed company in a $501 million deal. Bumi plc, which currently has a 29.2 percent stake in Bumi Resources through its subsidiary, Vallar plc, approved the Bakrie family'€™s proposal to purchase shares in the coal miner in a proposed deal worth $501 million '€” after Bumi plc struck a '€œpeace'€ deal with Nathaniel Rothschild, a British financier and friend-turned-rival of the Bakries.

The Bakries had been waiting for a decision following a bitter dispute with co-founder Rothschild over alleged financial irregularities in Bumi Resources and Berau, another coal minder controlled by Bumi plc.

Under the separation agreement, the Bakrie Group, which holds a 23.8 percent stake in Bumi plc, will sell its stake to Bumi plc chairman Samin Tan for $223 million.

The Bakries will then use the money to partly repurchase Bumi plc'€™s entire stake in Bumi Resources

Following completion of the separation, Vallar said in a written statement that it '€œdoes not believe it is appropriate for it to participate in the Dec. 20 meeting pending this transfer of ownership.'€ Accordingly, the statement said, the company decided to not attend the shareholders meeting and hereby confirmed that it had not voted, and would not vote, on any part of the agenda in the meeting.