Govt agrees to Indocopper’s merger with Freeport Indonesia
Thursday, January 15 2004 - 01:35 AM WIB
Director-General of geology and mineral resources Simon Sembiring said that the government’s approval letter is being prepared by the legal division.
“At present, the letter (draft) has reached central office (ministry),” said Simon when Koran Tempo contacted him on Tuesday in Jakarta.
Simon mentioned that the merger of these two mining companies was an ordinary business matter. It would not change the core business of Freeport, Simon said.
After this deal, Freeport-McMoran, the New Orleans-based American gold and copper mining giant, will have 90.64 percent stake in PT Freeport Indonesia.
Ministry of energy and mineral resources has already forwarded the request of Freeport-McMoran to the ministry of finance and recently the ministry of finance has said it has no objection to the deal.
Meanwhile, an official at the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources’ legal agency said it was needed several meetings between Freeport and the government to complete the merger process.
Actually, Freeport-McMoran had asked early last year for government’s approval for its plan to buy Indocopper’s stake in Freeport Indonesia. Since the government has not yet made a decision on this matter, PT Freeport has delayed its annual 2002 shareholders meeting.
As per Law No. 1/1995, companies must hold annual shareholders meeting no later than six months after their book-year ends.
As a result, government, as a shareholder, has not yet received its dividend from PT Freeport Indonesia for the year 2002.
Government has 9.36 percent ownership in PT Freeport Indonesia.
PT Freeport Indonesia paid Rp38.2 billion in dividend to the government in 2001. (*)