Indonesia's Bumi Resources, Berau Coal rise on separation deal close

JAKARTA, March 26 (Reuters) - Shares in Indonesia's Bumi Resources, Asia's top thermal coal exporter, rose as much as 4.6 percent on Wednesday after the company's majority shareholder completed payment of $278 million for its separation deal.

Coal miner Asia Resource Minerals (ARMS) said on Tuesday that the co-founding Bakrie family had paid the $278 million cash portion to complete a long-awaited deal to split from ARMS, previously known as Bumi Plc.

The deal, which was agreed last year, will separate ARMS from PT Bumi Resources (Other OTC: PBMRF - news) and focus its turnaround efforts on its other main Indonesian subsidiary, Berau Coal.

However, the separation deal had triggered Twitter (NYSE: TWTR - news) spat between Rothschild and Aga Bakrie, a member of the politically-connected Bakrie family, demonstrated the extent to which the company founders' relationship had soured.

Bumi Resources (Jakarta: BUMI.JK - news) shares hit a high of 295 rupiah, while Berau Coal rose as much as 4 percent to 178 rupiah. The broader Jakarta stock exchange was up 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Andjarsari Paramaditha; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)