Twitter spat as Bakries and Rothschild split
TROUBLED coal miner Asia Resource Minerals (ARM) yesterday confirmed that it has completed a long-awaited separation from its co-founders the Bakrie family and will return at least $400m (£242m) to shareholders.
The FTSE 250-listed firm, which was formerly known as Bumi, has been at the centre of an arduous dispute between Indonesia’s Bakrie family and financier Nat Rothschild, after a probe into financial irregularities found a $201m black hole in its balance sheet.
Its share price has tumbled almost 80 per cent since the business was set up in 2010.
The company’s separation was delayed several times at the request of the Bakries, who had to transfer funds for the transaction to complete.
Announcement of completion of the separation triggered a highly-charged exchange on Twitter between Rothschild and Adika “Aga” Nuraga Bakrie, a member of the Bakrie family, who exchanged insults and criticised the other side’s behaviour.
“It has been a long and difficult process and we have overcome numerous challenges along the way to achieve a highly attractive outcome for our shareholders in the circumstances,” said Nick von Schirnding, ARM’s chief executive.
The company did not give a timeframe on when it would return the money to shareholders.
“I think it’s important to return the maximum amount of money because there is no appetite from the major shareholders, certainly not from me, to entrust money with the management team in London to redeploy that capital,” Rothschild said, cited on Reuters.
“We want the business… to be run as efficiently as possible and for all dividends to be passed through to shareholders.”
As part of the separation process, outgoing ARM chairman Samin Tan bought the Bakries’ 23.8 per cent stake in the company through an investment vehicle. ARM sold its 29.2 per cent stake in Bumi Resources to the Bakries for $501m. As a result, companies controlled by Samin Tan now own 47.6 per cent of the total shares in ARM.
ARM said it is fully cooperating with a UK regulatory probe into the company’s formation in 2010 and subsequent events. Last year Rothschild asked the Financial Conduct Authority to look into whether ARM had made misleading statements to the market.