TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry prepares to purchase some of Freeport Indonesia's divested shares. The shares will be taken by the holding company of mining SOEs.
The ministry's special staff and chief of the Freeport Divestment Team, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said on Thursday that the the US miner will likely divest 10.64 percent of their shares.
Budi said the government's 9.36-percent stake in Freeport will also be allocated to the Mining SOEs Holding, which is led by Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum).
The members of the holding are Aneka Tambang or Antam, PT Timah, and Bukit Asam. The companies will be merged in the process.
Government Regulation No. 1/2017 requires Freeport Indonesia (IDX: FTPI) to divest 51 percent of its stake to the state. Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan said the shares must first be offered to the central government.
Freeport has so far refused the obligatory divestment, saying that 51 percent is too much and said that their contract (KK) only mandates 30 percent.
There is no agreement share price either. Freeport wants to sell 10.64 percent stake for US$1.7 billion while the Energy Ministry claims that their calculations show a price of just US$630 million.
The ministry's director general for coal and mineral Gatot Ariyono said Freeport's offered price is too high as it includes copper reserves until 2041. Price offers, he said, should only take replacement costs into calculations.
The US-based miner has not agreed to change its contract to a special mining license (IUPK) either.
"We have already developed underground mines," Freeport spokesman Riza Pratama said last week.
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