Bumi deal to see Nat Rothschild remain on board Mr Rothschild, a scion of the European banking dynasty, is understood to be close to reaching an agreement with Indonesia's Bakrie Group and Samin Tan which could see him step down as co-chairman and become a non-executive director. The deal will be formally discussed in Jakarta this week when Sir Julian Horn-Smith, Bumi's senior independent director, and Lord Renwick, one of the other five independent non-executive directiors meet Indra Bakrie, Bumi's chairman. The meeting is expected to be held tomorrow. On February 2, Bakrie Group and Mr Tan - who together own 47pc of Bumi's shares but control only 29.9pc of the voting rights - called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) at which they urged the removal of Mr Rothschild and five other board members including its current chief executive. It is thought that the majority of blue-chip institutions on Bumi's share register support Mr Rothschild's case, and would like him to remain in place as co-chairman or for an independent chairman to be appointed to safeguard the interests of all shareholders. News of the talks emerged as relations with the Bakrie Group appeared to thaw this weekend. Sources close to the group indicated that some of the circumstances had changed since the EGM was requisitioned. The sources said that the two investors had not realised Mr Rothschild had a day earlier stepped down from the board of EN+ Group, Oleg Deripaska's mining conglomerate, or that the requisition would be viewed as a personal attack on his reputation. The talks in Jakarta are expected to be held despite Mr Tan still proposing to fly to London this week to meet some of Bumi's institutional investors and press the case for his removal. Chris Fong, speaking on behalf of the Bakrie Group, said that it is aware that a possible solution will be presented. If the proposed solution makes sense, then we will strongly consider it...We want a board that is 100pc focused on the asset. Bumi's shares have fallen 15pc since the EGM requisition. A spokesman for Mr Rothschild did not comment.