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SOEs Minister maintains nickel miner Vale must relinquish more stake to RI
State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has maintained that nickel miner Vale must relinquish a larger stake to Indonesia that includes the country’s state-owned miner holding MIND ID.
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PT Vale Indonesia's mining activity in Sorowako is pictured in this undated photo. (JP/Ruslan Sangadji)
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tate-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has maintained his stance that nickel miner Vale must relinquish its larger stake to Indonesia that includes the country’s state-owned miner holding MIND ID.
Erick told reporters on Friday that PT Vale Indonesia must follow a similar path to PT Freeport Indonesia, which agreed to relinquish the majority of its stake, allowing the Indonesian side to control a 51 percent stake in the company.
“Requesting Vale Canada to relinquish [its stake] does not mean Indonesia dislikes foreign investment, but this is the government’s policy to develop the downstream industry. [...] This is something normal,” Erick said.
Read also: Analysis: MIND ID to gain majority stake at Vale to drive Nickel downstreaming
Currently, Brazil-based Vale Canada Ltd. and Japan-based Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. hold 43.79 and 15.03 percent stakes in Vale Indonesia, respectively, followed by the investing public that owns 20.49 percent, according to a report from Tenggara Strategics, a think-tank affiliated with The Jakarta Post, published on July 14.
Meanwhile, MIND ID currently owns the rest with a 20 percent stake and plans to purchase another 14 percent, the report also shows.
The plan for MIND ID to acquire a larger stake in Vale was the government’s latest attempt to accelerate downstream nickel industry development in the country.
