Indonesia's Martabe gold mine gets buyout enquiries -major owner ERM

G-Resources

03/08/2017 08:27

* Enquiries "unsolicited," major owner EMR says 
    * Also says no formal sales process ongoing 
 
    By Anshuman Daga and James Regan 
    SINGAPORE/SYDNEY, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The giant Martabe gold 
mine on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has attracted several 
unsolicited enquiries from buyers, its majority owner EMR 
Capital said on Thursday. 
    Earlier this week, financial sources cited market talk that 
parties had made approaches to buy Martabe, which has a resource 
of 7.5 million ounces of gold and 67 million ounces of silver. 
    "As you would expect, we have received a number of 
unsolicited inbound enquiries about Martabe," said EMR, which 
has a 61.4 percent stake in the mine. "There is, however, no 
formal sale process ongoing," it wrote in an email to Reuters. 
    EMR did not provide any details on the mine's valuation, but 
a financial source has said it is at a big premium to the price 
Martabe was last acquired for.  
    Australia-based EMR spearheaded a consortium that bought 95 
percent of the mine from Hong Kong's G-Resources  1051.HK  last 
year for $775 million, including assumed debt, plus $130 million 
if gold prices average $1,500 an ounce over a 12-month period 
before January 2019. Gold  XAU=  has not traded above $1500 an 
ounce since April 2013.  GOL/  
    The other stakeholders in the mine are U.S. investment group 
Farallon Capital Management, with 20.6 percent, and Indonesian 
billionaires Martua Sitorus with 11 percent and the Hartono 
family with 7 percent. 
 
 (Reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE and James Regan in 
SYDNEY, additional reporting by Eveline Danubrata in JAKARTA; 
Editing by Himani Sarkar) 
 ((jim.regan@thomsonreuters.com; +612 9373-1814; Reuters 
Messaging: jim.regan.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GOLD INDONESIA/M&A