The Singapore-born Indonesian billionaire’s wealth fell to $14.8 billion on Tuesday, putting him behind Djarum Group owner Robert Budi Hartono and Barito Pacific Group founder Prajogo Pangestu, both worth $16.5 billion, on Forbes’s real-time billionaire ranking.
Shares of Low’s flagship coal mining firm PT Bayan Resources closed the day down 8.1%, following a 10.1% slide in the previous session, the Jakarta Globe reported.
The stock rebounded during trading on Wednesday, lifting Low’s fortune to $16.2 billion as of that afternoon, but still leaving him in third place on Forbes’s real-time list.
|
Indonesian billionaire Low Tuck Kwong, founder and president director of PT Bayan Resources. Photo from SEAX Global’s website |
Bayan, founded and controlled by Low, had said in a stock exchange filing on Monday that the firm and three units, PT Tiwa Abadi, PT Tanur Jaya and PT Fajar Sakti Prima, have declared force majeure on their coal supply obligations.
It said the subsidiaries’ requests to revise their 2026 mining quotas have not yet been approved by the government. The revisions are required for the units to continue production.
“This condition affected the ability of the company and subsidiaries to fulfill its obligations to customers,” Bayan said in the filing cited by Reuters.
Low established Bayan in 2004 in Indonesia, having earlier moved there from Singapore and started in construction before expanding into coal mining. He became an Indonesian citizen in 1992 and purchased his first coal concession in Kalimantan five years later.
He has remained focused on coal over the years even as other Indonesian mining companies ventured into other commodities including gold and aluminum.
The tycoon and his daughter together own roughly 62% of Bayan, a stake that recent Bloomberg reports said was being negotiated for sale.
An entity controlled by fellow Indonesian tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, also known as Haji Isam, has offered $3 billion in cash for the stake, according to the reports, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The offer values Bayan at about $4.8 billion, over 80% below its market cap of around $26 billion earlier this month.