Are the Bakries about to lose Bumi Resources through a hostile bid?

It has been reported in the FT and other press during the last 24 hours that numerous parties are poring over the assets of Bumi Resources with a view to piecemeal purchases or an outright bid. Samin Tan is a likely interested party, not least to get his average down in his Group holding having paid £11 a share for Bumi Plc shares just last year!

From the FT –  ”Meanwhile, investment bankers say they are poring over the assets of the group, trying to figure out which ones can be sold, while others are advising interested parties on whether a hostile deal for either corporate entities or assets is possible. In the past, such efforts never went far, given the influence of the family. Aburizal Bakrie remains the head of the Golkar political party, which has nominated him to be its presidential candidate in 2014. Some analysts suggest that the pressure on Bakrie stems from political opponents.

Dileep Srivastava, the corporate secretary, says Bumi Resources is under “attack” from unnamed parties and that it knew nothing about the investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Bumi Resources announced by Bumi plc. “Being stakeholders of the world’s best and largest coal miner we have to be very mindful that there are many out there who wish to control this asset [rather] than seeing it grow professionally,” Mr Srivastava says.”

With the Bakries in the hole and now needing to raise cash and CIC (China Investment Corp) exposed to the debt of the company, a deal involving them too in which they take control of the assets also looks highly plausible. The underlying assets of Bumi Resources are sound and economically viable and given the recent slowing in china and dip in coal prices, now is an ideal point in the cycle for a bidder to pounce.

Question is where does ol Natty fit into this? I can hardly see him sitting back and letting his asset disappear for a song…