Govt still calculating value of Newmont shares

The government team is still calculating the actual value of the seven percent shares that have to be divested by Newmont shareholders this year.

?We hope the share valuation could be soon completed so that the divestment of Newmont shares could be completed this year,? said Newmont spokesman Rubi Purnomo.

In April, Newmont Nusa Tenggara's foreign shareholders offered another 7 percent of shares as part of its divestment obligation required by a 1986 contract. The 7 percent stake is priced at $444.1 million, about 80 percent higher than the seven percent stake offered in 2009.

PT Bumi Resources, the buyer of the 24 percent stake sold by Newmont?s foreign shareholders during the previous divestment, said that the company had not yet decided whether it would buy the remaining 7 percent of Newmont shares because the price was too high.

Rubi said that the Newmont management would be ready to explain the government the basis in the valuation of the 7 percent share.

Under the existing contract of work, NTT?s foreign shareholders are required to divest 31 percent of their shares to the government or local businesses. This means that NNT's foreign shareholders need to sell another 7 percent to be able to meet the requirement.

PT Multi Daerah Bersaing, which is 75 percent owned by Bumi and 25 percent by the local administration company, has bought up to 24 percent of the 31 percent shares that have to be divested. (*)