Low Tuck Kwong, the founder of Indonesian coal miner Bayan Resources, has defended his sale of a 30.25% stake in the company to businessman Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad as "purely a business transaction," a deal the Jakarta Globe valued at Rp26.1 trillion, or about $1.44 billion.

Bayan director Merlin spoke for Low on Sunday at the company's BayRun for Charity event in Senayan, Central Jakarta. He said the share transfer was carried out transparently and without pressure from any party, according to the Jakarta Globe and iNews.id. Low has long known the buyer's reputation in mining, regards it as good and sees him as a trusted business partner, Merlin said.

The statement matters to investors in Asia because the sale put nearly a third of a listed coal producer in the hands of a politically connected tycoon. Arsyad, widely known as Haji Isam, is seen as an ally of President Prabowo Subianto, the Jakarta Globe reported. Questions about how Indonesia hands out mining quotas have weighed on sentiment toward the country's resource stocks for much of the year.

Bayan stake moved to Haji Isam's Jhonlin Baratama

The buyer was PT Jhonlin Baratama, Arsyad's investment vehicle. Low and his daughter, Elaine Low, signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement on Sept. 16 covering 10,000,000,500 shares, according to iNews.id, and Bayan disclosed the deal to the exchange the next day. An amendment signed on Oct. 1 raised the number of shares, Mining.com.au reported. Jhonlin ended up with 10,084,088,370 Bayan shares, equal to 30.25% of the company, and the deal closed on Oct. 7 after its conditions were met.

Reuters, citing trading data, put the transaction at about $1.46 billion, Mining.com.au reported. Because the deal involved existing shares, Bayan itself raised no new money.

The final price was a long way from the first approach. Arsyad had earlier offered about $3 billion in cash for a 62% stake, which would have been roughly an 80% discount to the market price at the time, The Jakarta Post reported, citing Bloomberg.

Bayan has said little about what the new shareholder means for its strategy. Director Jenny Quantro said in September that completion depended on several conditions and that the deal would not hurt business continuity, The Jakarta Post reported. In an Oct. 12 letter to the exchange, Bayan said its core business plans remain unchanged and that it had not discussed strategic synergies with Jhonlin, Mining.com.au reported, citing EmitenNews.

Coal quota timing draws questions

The defense on Sunday was aimed at a question that has followed the deal since September: whether the sale was linked to Bayan's production quotas.

Three Bayan subsidiaries had been waiting for the government to approve their revised 2026 work plans and budgets, known as RKAB, which set how much coal each miner may produce. On Sept. 11 they declared force majeure on coal supply commitments, according to the Jakarta Globe. The share sale agreement was signed five days later. On Sept. 21, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry approved additional quotas of 15 million to 20 million tonnes for the three subsidiaries.

Investors asked whether the two events were connected. The ministry denied any link and said the approvals followed administrative requirements, the Jakarta Globe reported. Bayan lifted the force majeure after receiving the extra quota, according to Mining.com.au.

The quota system has become a pressure point across Indonesian mining. The government already uses it to steer coal toward domestic users, including the captive power plants that feed nickel smelters, and has signaled tighter output limits for other minerals, including a smaller nickel quota for 2027. For a producer, a delayed RKAB can halt shipments within weeks, as Bayan's September force majeure showed.

What the Bayan sale means for investors

Bayan is a large producer by any measure. It mined 68 million tonnes of coal in 2025 and holds concessions covering about 126,000 hectares in East and South Kalimantan, the Jakarta Globe reported. It also runs coal terminals and transport infrastructure, according to Mining.com.au.

Bayan has not given detailed information on its control structure after the transaction, The Jakarta Post reported. That leaves minority investors with two open questions: how much influence Jhonlin will seek on the board, and whether the new shareholder changes how the company deals with regulators.

Sunday's statement did not address either point directly. It focused on the relationship between the two men, with Merlin saying both want to contribute positively to Indonesia, according to iNews.id.

For fund managers who hold Indonesian coal names, the episode adds to a list of governance and policy concerns around the Jakarta market. The ministry's denial and Low's account both describe an ordinary commercial deal. Investors will judge it by how Bayan's quotas, dividends and board decisions look in 2027.