02/15/08 13:45 PT Antam denies it has received govt approval to buy stake in Freeport
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State-run Indonesian gold and nickel miner PT Antam said Friday that the government has not awarded it the rights to buy a less than 20 percent stake in the operator of a gold and copper mine in the eastern Papua island, contrary to media reports. The rights would have given Antam the first priority in buying a stake in Freeport Indonesia, a company that owns and operates the Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua. Antam said what it has obtained was just "verbal support from State Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil in the acquisition of the 9.36 percent stake in Freeport Indonesia held by PT Indocopper Investama, should Antam wish to do so." Indocopper is wholly owned by US-based Freeport McMoRan, the company which directly owns 81.28 percent of Freeport Indonesia. The Indonesian government holds the remaining 9.36 percent stake. Antam has been looking at the possibility of buying a stake in Freeport Indonesia. But in January 2006, it put on hold that plan, citing the surge in world gold prices which could make the acquisition quite expensive. "We continue to look at all the opportunities to acquire gold assets in Indonesia including a stake in Freeport Indonesia, a possibility we have known for many years. If the price is right, if it fits our growth plans, we will make this investment, but more work still needs to be done to assess the opportunity," Antam president Dedy Aditya Sumanegara told Thomson Financial. He said Antam is financially and strategically ready to make any acquisition, even if it will purchase the combined 18.72 percent stake of Indocopper and the Indonesian government in Freeport. At end-September, Antam had cash and cash equivalents of 4.4 trillion rupiah, said Sumanegara. Under its financial obligations as set out in a 1991 contract with the government, Freeport Indonesia has paid a total of 6.5 billion dollars to Indonesia until the end of September 2007. COPYRIGHT (c) 2008 Terms of Use <http://www.antara.co.id/en/terms/> Print Version <http://www.antara.co.id/en/print/?i=1203057902> Send to Friend <javascript: sendtofriend('1203057902','en','http://www.antara.co.id')> Write a Comment <javascript: writecomment('1203057902','en','http://www.antara.co.id')> [image: AddThis Social Bookmark Button]<http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php> [image: AddThis Feed Button]<http://www.addthis.com/feed.php?pub=antons&h1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antara.co.id%2Fen%2Frss%2Fnews.xml&t1=>
