Bumi PLC announced it had received a later bid from founder and former director Nathaniel Rothschild outlining his counter-proposal to the $US1.4 billion Bakrie family bid.
The Bakrie bid is to buy back Bumi PLC’s Indonesian coal mining assets.
Bumi PLC has a 29% stake in Indonesian company Bumi Resources and an 85% stake in Indonesia’s fourth-largest coal miner, Berau Coal.
Bakrie said, in a letter to the Bumi PLC board, that because the initial objective of the Bakrie Group in pursuing a London listing had not been met, it had submitted its proposal to exit Bumi.
He said it was therefore appropriate that he resigned as a director of the company.
Bumi PLC also announced it had received another letter from Rothschild but declined, once more, to give details of his bid.
Rothschild did tell Bloomberg that his plan was receiving strong investor support.
In November, the Financial Times reported that mining entrepreneur Robert
Friedland had agreed to invest $50 million in Rothschild’s bid.