Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thailand prime minister, has been in discussion to purchase the 23.8% stake owned by the Bakrie family in Bumi Plc, the Indonesia focused coal miner. This was confirmed in a news report from the Sunday Times.
Thaksin was removed from office through an Army led coup d'etat in 2006. While there has been no price pegged or mentioned in the news report as to the purchase, but confirmed that UBS had been hired to manage the purchase.
Bumi was established through a partnership between Nat Rothschild and the Bakrie family. It had struggled though in the past two years after boardroom battles, an inquiry as to financial irregularities as well as the declining price of coal weighed down on the company's finances.
The Bakrie family had already agreed to a buyout through an exchange worth US$278 million in cash as well as shares in Bumi for its minority ownership in Bumi Resources. There have been questions though as to the family's ability to finance the said agreement.
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