Rothschild’s rivals to take fight to board
NAT Rothschild will have to affirm his loyalty to the FTSE 250 miner Bumi in order to get the full support of its board after rival shareholders in the company dropped a call for an emergency investor vote to oust him.
Rothschild is likely to lose his title of co-chairman to new Indonesian shareholder Samin Tan in March, but will not have to face a shareholder vote after his rivals were persuaded to raise the matter at board level in “the best interests of Bumi Plc and its shareholders”.
Sources in London and Jakarta said that the Bakries and independent directors will seek assurances from Rothschild that he is committed to repairing relations and will not repeat his actions of last autumn – or do anything similar – when he published a letter criticising the firm’s management before sending it to the board.
The Indonesian co-owners of Bumi have called for a shake-up of the board that would see Rothschild and four other directors kicked off, but agreed to settle the row behind the scenes after their initial move sent Bumi’s share price tumbling.
The shift came after two independent non-executive directors, Julian Horn-Smith and Lord Renwick, met with the disgruntled Bakrie Group in Jakarta yesterday, which owns 23 per cent of the company and 15 per cent of the voting rights.