Besides a consortium headed by Indonesian tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, several other parties have also shown interest, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
Negotiations are ongoing and a sale is not guaranteed. Given Bayan’s limited free float, the stake will likely be sold at a discount, the sources said.
Low and his daughter hold a roughly 62% stake in Bayan. The firm’s management earlier this month said it was not aware of any planned takeover or acquisition involving the stake by Andi, who is popularly known as Haji Isam, or his affiliates.
It said it had no information on the identities of the parties involved or how the reported transaction would be structured. It was likewise unaware of how many shares could potentially change hands or the value of any such deal, as quoted by Indonesia Business Post.
Nonetheless, Bayan’s controlling shareholders had informed management that they may periodically assess opportunities to maximize their investment in the company.
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Indonesian billionaire Low Tuck Kwong. Photo courtesy of SEAX Global |
Haji Isam is one of Indonesia’s most politically connected businessmen and often portrayed in local media as a rags-to-riches tycoon.
The son of a poor family from the jungles of Borneo, he entered the coal industry in South Kalimantan in the early 2000s and later expanded his business interests into palm oil, shipping, logistics and aviation, according to the South China Morning Post.
A successful deal for the Bayan stake would make Haji Isam one of the country’s biggest coal tycoons. It would also mark the end of Low’s decades at the helm of Bayan.
Born in Singapore, Low moved to Indonesia in 1972 and started a construction company before expanding into the coal industry. He became an Indonesian citizen in 1992 and purchased his first coal concession in Kalimantan five years later.
Low has kept his focus on coal even as other Indonesian mining groups have diversified into commodities such as gold and aluminum.
Forbes ranked him as Indonesia’s fourth-richest man last December, with his current net worth estimated at $20.8 billion. He is also among the wealthiest people in Southeast Asia on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.