Deadline to acquire Newmont stake to be extended: Report

The government may, once again, have to extend the deadline to conclude the final divestment of a 7 percent stake in gold and copper mining firm PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Monday.

The Government Investment Center, or better known as PIP, first signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of the 7 percent stake in NNT in May 2011. But since then, the SPA has been amended for seven times due to various obstacles in concluding the transaction, the last being made in July of 2013, with a deadline for concluding the transaction set for January 24, 2014.

PIP Head Soriaton Siregar was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying that as of Friday, the government was still reviewing the SPA, with the possibility of extending the deadline again.

?We (PIP) on Friday was still reviewing it (SPA), which means it has yet to be concluded. After the review is concluded, we?ll meet with the House of Representatives Commission VII to report the results,? Soriaton said.

NNT, the local subsidiary of US-based Newmont Mining Corp, has been required to divest up to 51 percent interest to local investors. The company is in the process of divesting the final 7 percent stake.

While the central government holds the first right to acquire the stake, lawmakers have been supporting the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration to acquire the stake.

Bisnis Indonesia quoted Satya W. Yudha, a member of the House Commission VII which oversees the mining and energy sector, as saying that to this point, the House still prefers the option of the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration acquiring the 7 percent stake in NNT. (*)