Glencore wants coal, shares in Bakrie talks - sources

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc (GLEN.L) is pressing the Bakrie group for more rights to sell coal and an option to buy shares in its London-listed unit in exchange for refinancing a $1.35 billion (863.88 million pounds) short-term loan, sources said on Tuesday.

A 40-percent fall in the share price of the unit, Bumi Plc (BUMIP.L), has triggered the mandatory repayment of the one-year loan and a source with knowledge of the deal said lenders are urging an immediate solution.

The Indonesian family-run group is in advanced talks with Glencore, the world's largest commodities trader, and is also holding discussions with at least three other parties, two sources said. These include Vitol SA and private equity firm TPG-backed Northstar, they told Reuters.

Bumi's London-listed shares were trading up 3.5 percent at 0820 GMT.

Bakrie, Northstar and Glencore declined to comment. Vitol was not immediately available to comment.

The $1.35 billion loan to Bakrie firms Bakrie & Brothers (BNBR.JK) and Long Haul comes due in March 2012. It was arranged by Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX).

Britain's Sunday Telegraph was first to report the Glencore-Bakrie refinancing talks.

Bumi does not want to lose control of its mines, and is therefore looking to structure a financing deal that helps it retain control while addressing the margin call on the $1.35 billion loan, a loans banker said.

The Bakrie group is controlled by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, head of Indonesia's biggest political party Golkar and a politician with presidential ambitions.

The Bakries were in a similar tight spot in 2008, when concerns over a debt repayment hit shares of the entire group. Trading was halted in six Bakrie companies then, amid panic selling.

They formed Bumi Plc by joining forces with the Rothschild banking dynasty in a deal aimed at cementing their dominance of Indonesia's coal exports sector.

Glencore, which is seen as the most serious candidate to lead the refinancing, is the main marketing agent for Jakarta-listed Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK), while Singapore commodities firm Noble Group is the main agent for Berau. Both Berau and Bumi are units of Bumi Plc.

Glencore has in the past used its deep pockets to bail out debt-laden or troubled firms in exchange for equity stakes.

The most striking example is Katanga Mining in Congo, a copper miner in which Glencore now holds more than 74 percent after bailing it out in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The internal rate of return for that investment has been a spectacular 50 percent, according to a prospectus released by Glencore earlier this year ahead of listings in Hong Kong and London.

(Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira Marques in LONDON and Prakash Chakravarti, IFR Asia, in HONG KONG; Writing by Neil Fullick; Editing by Michael Flaherty, Chris Lewis and Alex Richardson)