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UPDATE 1-Indonesia's Bumi plans new buyback after share fall

Mon Oct 6, 2008 8:47pm EDT

Stocks

   

(Adds details, target price cut by BNP)

JAKARTA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Indonesia's largest coal producer, PT Bumi Resources Tbk (BUMI.JK), is seeking the approval of shareholders to buy back an additional 10 percent of its 19.4 billion outstanding shares, the company said.

The buyback plan, which would be on top of 3 percent share buyback that was approved in June, came after the firm's share price plunged by nearly a third on Monday to 2,175 rupiah ($0.227).

Bumi's president director, Ari Hudaya, said in a statement late on Monday the extra buyback was in response to "the irrational market condition arising from fears of a global financial turmoil impacting every sector of the economy."

Separately, BNP Paribas slashed its target price on the company by 49 percent to 4,500 rupiah a share, as it reduced its 2009 net profit forecast for Bumi Resources to $987 million from a previous estimate of $1.78 billion.

"We have slashed our target price by 49 percent to 4,500 rupiah as we aggressively slash our assumptions. In nearly all cases, our new assumptions are much more conservative than market consensus," BNP analyst Kim Kwie Sjamsudin said in a report.

"We believe investors are focusing more on downside risks at this juncture," Sjamsudin said, adding that "despite aggressive cuts in our assumptions, we still find good value in Bumi."

He said the current share price of Bumi implied the market pricing in coal prices of $75 a tonne or comparable to oil prices of $65 a barrel.

Bumi is partly owned by the family of Indonesia's chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie. The company produced 54 million tonnes of coal in 2007. ($1=9,585 rupiah) (Reporting by Harry Suhartono; Editing by Ed Davies)



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