(Sept 18): Indonesian tycoon Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad agreed to acquire a major stake in miner PT Bayan Resources, setting the stage for him to become one of the biggest players in the global coal industry.
The billionaire, better known as Haji Isam, has been seeking control of Bayan in a deal that would make him one of the world’s top coal producers. He was among the biggest backers of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s 2024 election campaign and now oversees major government projects, including a one-million-hectare food estate in Papua.
Haji Isam agreed on Sept 16 to acquire 30% of Bayan’s shares through his company PT Jhonlin Baratama, according to a stock exchange filing late Thursday. The shares will be transferred from Low Tuck Kwong and his daughter Elaine Low, Bayan’s two biggest shareholders, subject to several conditions.
Bayan didn’t elaborate further on the deal or the price of the share sale in the filing. The company’s stock rose as much as 20% in Jakarta on Friday, the biggest intraday gain in a month, and was set for a weekly advance of around 12%.
Jhonlin and Bayan didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Haji Isam made a US$3 billion (RM12.3 billion) cash offer for a 62% stake in the coal company earlier this month, according to people familiar with the matter. That offer put a price tag of roughly US$4.8 billion on Bayan.
Haji Isam’s conglomerate PT Jhonlin Group is already a major producer of thermal coal, requesting a mining quota of 60 million tons this year, Bloomberg reported in July. Bayan, meanwhile, mined about 68 million tons last year.
The combined total would place Haji Isam above industry giants like Glencore Plc and below only Indian and Chinese miners that sell their product domestically. If he gets a controlling stake in Bayan, the 49-year-old from Kalimantan would oversee by far the largest coal business in Indonesia, the world’s biggest exporter of the fossil fuel.
Market participants are now waiting for more details of the transaction to gauge the impact on the company’s share price, said Andreas Yordan Tarigan, an equity analyst at PT Sucor Sekuritas. “But the market has been waiting excitedly for this to happen. It’s always exciting when there’s a jumbo transaction happening,” he said.
Bayan, founded by Singapore-born Low in 2004, had its production quota slashed by the Indonesian government earlier this year, leading it to declare force majeure last week. Competitors including PT Bumi Resources and PT Adaro Andalan were largely spared from enforced output cuts, Bloomberg reported in February.
Haji Isam has quickly become one of Prabowo’s favourite businessmen, with the Indonesian president flying to the entrepreneur’s coastal hometown of Batulicin the day after he was sworn in to express his gratitude. Considering most of Haji Isam’s businesses are unlisted, his fortune is hard to pin down, but people who know him say it easily exceeds US$1 billion.
Uploaded by Evelyn Chan