Rajawali takes over Archipelago Resources for $541m

By Romel S. Gurky

PT Rajawali Corpora, Indonesian conglomerate founded by Peter Sondakh, has reached agreement with London-listed Archipelago Resources on the terms for the acquisition of the entire shares of the gold miner.

Archipelago said in a statement on Friday that the offer price for the takeover is 58 pence for each Archipelago share, valuing Archipelago?s existing issued share capital at approximately 338 million pounds or US$541 million. The price is 18 percent premium to the close on Sept. 26.

Archipelago is the owner of the Toka Tindung gold mine in North Sulawesi and is carrying out explorations in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Rajawali already owns 53 percent of Archipelago. According to the statement, following the takeover, an Indonesian company will hold the assets of the Archipelago Group pursuant to the proposed restructuring and may be listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange

Commenting on the offer, Colin Sutherland, CEO of Archipelago, said: "Archipelago has provided shareholders with strong growth over the last four years.

The Offer is priced at a level that represents an opportunity for minority shareholders to realise their investment at an attractive cash premium to the prevailing market price, in view of the strategic move by Rajawali to restructure Archipelago into an Indonesian listed entity."

Stephen Sulistyo, Managing Director - Business Development & Investment, of Rajawali, said: "We believe that the cash offer price fairly reflects the Company's true value and should be satisfactory to all the shareholders of Archipelago. We would like to thank the Independent Committee of Archipelago for its professionalism and commitment to overseeing the protection of minority shareholders and for working with the Rajawali team to ensure a good and fair outcome for all stakeholders."

Rajawali has businesses ranging from property, infrastructure and coal mining.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon