UPDATE: Antam Drops Plan To Buy Stake In Newmont's Indonesia Unit
(Adds background, closing stock price.)
JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- Gold and nickel miner PT Aneka Tambang (ANTM.JK) has
decided to drop its plan to buy a 14% stake in Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM)
Indonesian unit, Antam President Director Alwin Syah Loebis said Wednesday.
Antam's move is the latest development in Newmont's drawn-out attempt to
divest a majority stake in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, or PTNNT, to local buyers
in order to meet government regulations.
"We decided to pull out from participating in buying the stake in Newmont,"
Loebis told reporters.
Loebis said his company pulled out of the deal after failing to reach an
agreement on the eventual breakdown of ownership of the shares in the Newmont
unit with the other consortium members, PT Daerah Maju Bersaing and PT
Multicapital.
He said Antam has sent a letter to the State Enterprises Ministry explaining
the withdrawal.
Newmont and its minority partner Sumitomo Corp. (8053.TO) are required by
contract with the Indonesian government to divest a total 51% of PTNNT to local
buyers by 2010.
Antam, a state-owned company, had been mandated to represent the central
government in a consortium that is buying the current 14% stake and a separate
10% stake in PTNNT.
PT Daerah Maju Bersaing is a company formed by the governments of West Nusa
Tenggara province and West Sumbawa and Sumbawa regencies, the three areas in
which PTNNT's Batu Hijau copper and gold mine is located. PT Multicapital is a
financial company partly-owned by coal miner PT Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK), which
is part of the powerful Bakrie business group.
Traders on the local bourse said the news sparked buying in Bumi Resources,
which owns a 5% in Multicapital, on hopes that Antam's decision would pave the
way for Multicapital to buy a bigger stake in PTNNT.
Bumi shares closed up 1.9% at IDR2,625 Wednesday, rebounding from an intraday
low of IDR2,500.
-By Linda Silaen; Dow Jones Newswires; 62 21 3983 1277; edhi.pranasidhi@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-18-090555ET
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