Coal billionaire Low Tuck Kwong loses a third of his fortune after selling Bayan Resources stake

That marked Low’s biggest one-day loss on record and also the steepest drop among global billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Monday.

The Indonesian tycoon’s estimated fortune has more than halved from the start of the year to $11.3 billion, according to the index.

The figure includes the remaining 32% stake in Bayan Resources held by him and his daughter, as well as his holdings in other businesses and cash assets. The index attributes family-owned shares to Low as he is the company founder.

Bayan earlier said in a filing with the Indonesia Stock Exchange that Low and his daughter had completed the sale of a 30.25% Bayan stake to Jhonlin Baratama on Oct. 7.

Following the transaction, Low’s stake in the company fell to 9.95% from 40.15% while his daughter Elaine’s holdings declined to 22.05% from 22.1%.

Low Tuck Kwong, founder of PT Bayan Resources. Photo from Bayan Peduli’s website

The deal was initially agreed in September for a 30% stake before being amended earlier this month to increase the stake being sold to 30.25%, financial data platform IDN Financials reported.

Jhonlin Baratama is the investment vehicle of fellow Indonesian tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, commonly known as Haji Isam.

Bayan is one of Indonesia’s largest and most profitable producers focused exclusively on thermal coal. It posted $943 million in net profit on revenue of $3.43 billion and produced around 68 million tonnes of coal last year, according to The Business Times.

It was founded in 2004 by Low, who was born in Singapore before relocating to Indonesia and later becoming an Indonesian citizen.

Last month, Bayan and three subsidiaries declared force majeure on their coal supply obligations after revisions to their mining quotas had not been granted by the Indonesian government, Reuters reported. The revisions were later approved and the company subsequently lifted the force majeure declaration.