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The saga of mining firm Bumi took another twist on Monday night as the banking scion Nat Rothschild said he has persuaded the five largest institutional investors to back his plan to save the business.
Rothschild is attempting to oust influential Indonesian family the Bakries from the London-listed company, which the two dynasties set up before falling out.
Writing to the company's board, Rothschild said he had raised £213m to buy out the Bakrie-influenced board members, chairman Samin Tan and Rosan Roeslani, while keeping coal assets in Indonesia.
He claimed the support of 11 independent investors with a "desire to invest new equity capital into the company, in order to remove completely the Bakries and their allies from the Bumi plc shareholder register".
The announcement comes days before a preliminary report is due to be presented to the board into allegations of irregularities at the company's Indonesian operations.
The Bakries had planned to quit Bumi and dismantle the company by buying back stakes the company had in two coal producers – Bumi Resources and Berau Coal Energy – for $1.4bn.
Rothschild quit the board over the plans, which valued the shares at £4.40 each, compared with a £10 flotation price. On Monday he said: "My understanding is that the thresholds required by the Bakries to see their proposal succeed cannot now be reached."
Investors supporting his plan include Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Schroders Investment Management, Standard Life Investments, Taube Hodson Stonex, and Artemis Investment Management.
Bumi's board, from which Indra Bakrie resigned as co-chairman last week, will consider the proposal and respond in the next few days, according to sources close to the company.
However, it will be difficult to persuade Tan and Roeslani to sell their stakes, another source said.
A report by law firm Macfarlanes into the alleged misuse of funds in Bumi's Indonesian operations, which include a 29% stake in Bumi Resources and 85% in Berau Coal, is expected on Wednesday.
Rothschild alleged: "There has been a scandalous misuse of shareholders' funds at Bumi Resources and Berau … Furthermore, Samin Tan has done nothing to stop it: in fact it has increased under his chairmanship."
The investigation was triggered after a whistleblower in Jakarta sent documents relating, in part, to a £198m writedown the company made last year on a business owned by Roeslani – who also sits on Bumi's board.
Relations between the Bakries and Rothschild collapsed shortly after the latter helped bring the mining firm to the London Stock Exchange through a shell company.
However, Rothschild, who was then chairman, raised issues of corporate governance with the Bakrie family, which includes presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie.
The Bakries demanded Rothschild step down, which he did, taking up a position as a non-executive director.
Bumi confirmed it had received Rothschild's letter and would respond accordingly.
