Rothschild's Vallar Agrees to Buy Indonesian Coal Producers for $3 Billion

Vallar Plc, Nathaniel Rothschild’s investment vehicle, will buy 75 percent of PT Berau Coal Energy and 25 percent of PT Bakrie & Brothers’ PT Bumi Resources in a cash and stock transaction valued at $3 billion. 

The so-called reverse takeover will create a London-listed Indonesian “resources champion,” the St Helier, Jersey-based company said today in a statement. Bakrie Group will become the largest combined shareholder in Vallar -- to be renamed Bumi Plc -- and have the right to nominate the chairman, chief executive officer and chief financial officer. 

Rothschild, former co-president of New York-based hedge- fund firm Atticus Capital LLC and the son of British financier Jacob Rothschild, said in July he sought to acquire a mining business or operation after Vallar raised 707.2 million pounds ($1.07 billion) in an initial public offering in London. 

“The fundamentals of the metals and mining sector are compelling, given the strength of demand from China and India,” Ari Hudaya, proposed group CEO of Vallar, said in today’s statement. “Indonesia itself also offers us many exciting growth opportunities as power consumption continues to grow.” 

The company plans to make a mandatory offer to Berau’s minority shareholders and increase its ownership in Bumi in 2011, it said. 

Trading in Vallar shares in London is suspended. 

Rothschild ranks seventh in the Sunday Times list of the 25 wealthiest U.K.-based hedge-fund managers in an annual estimate of net worth known as the “Rich List.” He has an estimated fortune of 330 million pounds, according to the list published in April.Source: Bloomberg