Asia Resource Minerals extends deadline for split from Bakries
ASIA Resource Minerals, the Indonesia-focused miner formerly known as Bumi, yesterday said that the deadline for its separation from Indonesia’s Bakrie Group has been delayed for another four weeks, until 21 February.
The FTSE 250-listed company has been dogged by allegations of corruption, creating an arduous dispute between its co-founders, financier Nat Rothschild and the Bakrie family, and an investigation into financial irregularities. The probe found a black hole of millions of dollars of missing money.
Last month Bumi said it would go into arbitration in Singapore to recover $173m (£105.6m) from former director Rosan Roeslani.
Shareholders voted in favour of the company’s separation and the new name last month.
The Bakrie Group has agreed that $50m currently committed to the separation will be transferred to Asia Resource Minerals by 23 January and will only be repayable if the company is in breach of the separation agreement, it said in yesterday’s statement. The company’s shares have lost about three quarters of their value since listing, yet rose over four per cent yesterday.