On an overcast morning last December at the Four Seasons Jakarta, nearly two-dozen dignitaries arrived at the outlying steel gates. Security agents, armed with M-16 rifles, moved diligently along the sides of the assembled cars checking for explosives via a curved mirror. Waved on, the visitors ascended the driveway then walked to a basement room. The setting chosen to announce one of Indonesia’s biggest ever resource deals resembled a home counties conference centre: sliding walls, beige patterned carpet and a prefabricated bouquet of roses sitting on a makeshift desk next to the projector. Only the air conditioner whirring overhead, battling 34°C heat outside, gave a clue as to the tropical location.Like his surroundings, the blue-suited speaker – who described his family business as “banking and wine” – kept a low profile, gliding in without greeting, the only indication of his presence a discreet sign in the lobby directing invitees to the Vallar presentation. The journalists – clustered around white-clothed tables, their chairs draped with creme-coloured organza in what resembled wedding preparations – took out pens and notebooks. Nathaniel Rothschild, 39, and the future Baron Rothschild, laid out his plans to create one of the world’s biggest coal producers from Vallar, a £707m “cash-shell” he had founded six months earlier. In so doing, he hopes to make his mark on the considerable family name.
Twenty-four hours later, Rothschild stepped off his jet to inspect Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), the world’s largest thermal coal-producing mine. Accompanying him were the FT, his closest adviser and a recent friend: a fund manager with a metal ear stud and an Elvis-style quiff. “We met at a party in Wiltshire,” he said by way of explanation. The present environs could not have been less temperate. Sweating on a remote jungle airstrip on the island of Borneo, Rothschild cut an unlikely figure. Dressed in a monogrammed shirt and suede shoes he made a beeline for the air-conditioned welcome room. It was the closest Rothschild had been to any of the assets for which he had paid $3bn four weeks earlier.
Sitting down to a buffet lunch, which he didn’t touch, he explained why. “Coal mines all look the same, they’re just bigger or smaller.” more ...
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