Determining the Optimal Capital Structure of PT Bumi Resource Tbk

Demand for coal increased because of the energy crises that occurred in Europe and China. Due to this growth in demand, coal prices have gone up globally as well. This can be an opportunity for coal companies in Indonesia as one of the countries with the largest coal reserves in the world. PT Bumi Resource Tbk, one of the businesses with Indonesia’s largest coal deposits. Additionally, most of the coal supplied by PT Bumi Resource Tbk is consumed domestically, and most of it for China. So, it is necessary to increase production to meet these demands.

One way to increase production is by optimizing the company’s capital structure. The proportion of debt and equity which is capital structure will be the focus of the company in the future. PT Bumi Resource Tbk was repeatedly unable to repay its loans. Based on calculations through the Damodaran theory, the optimal capital structure for companies in 2021 with 30 percent debt ratio. This would maximize the company’s value of $1,709,478,366 with a weight average cost of capital of 7.86 percent. Future projections are made using three scenarios: the best scenario, the base scenario, and the worst scenario. The best scenario is the best of these three scenarios with delivers the highest firm value, $ 4,605,803,420 with the lowest weight average of capital costs, 9,06 percent. The proportion of the debt ratio needed to maximize the value of the company in its best condition is 10 percent.

The results of calculating the optimal capital structure today or in the future show that companies need to reduce the debt ratio if they want to maximize their firm value. In addition, the company is also facing threat of bankruptcy because the Alman Z-score is

-0.13. There are several ways based on the Damodaran framework to reduce debt ratio. First, a company can do a debt for equity swap by converting its debt into equity or by doing a private placement. Second, companies can negotiate with lenders regarding the maturity of their debts or decrease of interest by making an agreement. Third, companies can sell their assets to pay off their debts.