Bumi plunges on Indonesia unit probe The FTSE 250 mining company said it would probe its initial valuation of parts of PT Bumi Resources, the heavily-indebted Jakarta-listed coal miner in which it owns a 29 per cent stake. Bumi Plc's investigation will focus on a writedown in its most recent full-year results of funds for the development assets of PT Bumi Resources, as well as PT Berau Coal Energy, in which Bumi Plc owns 85 per cent. Bumi Plc shares, which lost 22 per cent of their value on Friday ahead of the announcement, fell another 37 per cent in early London trading on Monday before recovering somewhat to stand 27 per cent lower at 144.9p. Although Aburizal Bakrie has stepped back from the day-to-day running of the family businesses, the family's financial woes are unlikely to boost his presidential credentials. Mr Bakrie has secured the provisional nomination of Golkar, the political party established by Suharto, the former Indonesian dictator, but observers say there is ample time for this to change before the presidential election in the summer of 2014. "The negative publicity about the group's finances will inevitably reflect poorly on Mr Bakrie, complicating his ability to persuade mainstream voters that he can be a competent manager as president," said Kevin O'Rourke, a political analyst in Jakarta. With high interest payments eating into profits at Bumi Resources and other affiliated companies, Mr Bakrie may also find it more difficult to cover the high costs of campaigning in a sprawling nation of 240m people. A spokesman for the Bakrie family said that although there was "a lot of speculation and doom and gloom," the family had a long-term perspective and would continue to restructure its businesses and reduce debt. "The view from the family is that the assets are solid and we have to ride out tough times," he said. We've been through this many times before.