Jakarta Globe, November 09, 2012
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| Bumi Resources' coal mine in East Kalimantan. The Indonesian company is the biggest producer of coal in the country. (Photo Courtesy of Bumi Resources) |
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Indonesia’s
PT Bumi Resources, the nation’s biggest producer of power-station coal, said a
South Jakarta court has approved an independent investigation into its
financial accounts dating back to 2010.
The
investigation was prompted by the company’s audit committee “in view of the
public notifications by a shareholder, Bumi Plc, and various reports, both in
international and local media,” the Jakarta-based coal producer said on Friday
in an e-mailed statement.
Reports are
due to the Chief Justice of District Court of South Jakarta within 90 days of
the appointment of an auditor, it said.
PT Bumi is
part-owned by the Bakrie family and is at the center of a feud involving
London-listed Bumi Plc, owner of 29 percent of the Indonesian mining company,
and Bumi Plc co- founder Nathaniel Rothschild.
Bumi Plc,
which has lost 70 percent in trading this year, in September started an urgent
probe into “potential financial and other irregularities” at its Indonesian
operations, PT Bumi and PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk.
The
so-called forensic audit will focus on the accounts for the financial years of
2010 through 2012, PT Bumi said.
The
Indonesian company referred to funds from unit PT Bumi Resources Minerals that
are invested in United Overseas Bank Ltd. without giving further details of the
probe.
An official
at London-based Bumi Plc declined to comment.
The
Indonesian investigation comes as Bumi Plc studies alternative proposals for
its assets from two of the key parties who founded it in 2010, Rothschild and
the Bakrie Group.
Rothschild,
41, has appointed Morgan Stanley to advise him and held talks with potential
new investors as well as current holders of Bumi, a person familiar with the
matter said last week.
An offer
from the scion of a centuries-old banking dynasty would counter a $1.2 billion
proposal from the Bakries for Bumi Plc’s stakes in two coal producers — its
holding in PT Bumi and the 85 percent it has in PT Berau Coal Energy.
The Bakries
made their offer last month to help resolve “irreconcilable differences” with
Rothschild. The financier has described the Bakries’ offer as not being in the
interests of investors.
Bumi
dropped 2.5 percent to 266.9 pence at 1:10 p.m. in London. Bumi Resources was
unchanged at Rp 650 on Friday in Jakarta and Berau Coal Energy was also
unchanged at Rp 220.
Bumi Plc
said Sept. 24 it was starting a probe into potential financial “irregularities”
at its Indonesian investments. The probe is linked to a $637 million writedown
of development funds and exploration assets in Bumi’s Dec. 31, 2011, year-end
financial statement.
London-listed
Bumi won’t make a recommendation on any possible transaction until the
investigation is “appropriately advanced,” the company said Nov. 5.
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