Antam to reevaluate its Freeport acquisition plan

After the government cancelled plan to sell its 9.36 percent stake in PT Freeport Indonesia, the management of the state gold and nickel miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) will reevaluate its plan to aquire the Freeport stake, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Friday edition.

Initially, Antam was given priority to buy government’s stake in Freeport and even appointed the HSBC as its investment adviser. It also wants buy another 9.36 percent stake belonging to PT Indocopper Investama.

The total value for the 18.72 percent stake is around $1.4 billion. In order to raise this huge money Antam must issue new shares and borrow money from banks.

But the Coordinating Minister of Economy Aburizal Bakrie recently said that the government will not sell its 9.36 percent stake in Freeport.

Antam president director Aditya Sumanagara said he will consult HSBC about the evaluation of the whole plan.

“We have to see again how big are the prospects of our investment and how big the dividend to be earned on it. The return should be in line with the total investment,” Aditya said.(*)