BLD Plantation expands Sarawak land bank

A palm oil plantation in Kampung Perpaduan, Sabah. Part of Project RiLeaf's aims are to educate smallholder farmers to implement sustainable agricultural practices in their daily farming activities.

KUALA LUMPUR: BLD Plantation Bhd (BLDP) is acquiring 100% equity interest in Pekan Semangat Sdn Bhd, whose 70% owned subsidiary owns 5,442ha of plantation land in Sarawak, for RM155.22mil.

The oil palm plantation operator told Bursa Malaysia that Pekan’s subsidiary, Agrogreen Ventures Sdn Bhd, owned the two parcels of land in Stungkor, of which at least 5,000ha have been developed into oil palm plantation.

The proposed share purchase from vendors Loi Heng Sewn, Lau Yong Lee, Albert Hong Hin Kay and Dr Ngoi Sing Shang was expected to contribute positively to the earnings of the group, it said.

“The board is positive that the profit contribution from the proposed acquisition will grow in line with the higher anticipated return. The board believes that with the increase in the size of the land bank pursuant to the proposed acquisition, it will put the BLDP group on a strong footing to become one of the major players in the oil palm cultivation business in Malaysia,” the crude palm oil producer said.
 
The purchase price will be satisfied via a combination of internally generated funds and external borrowings with detailed terms to be finalised.

The proposed acquisition is expected to be completed within 150 days from the date of the share sale agreement (March 15, 2016).

BLDP shares were not traded on the bourse on Tuesday. The last traded price was RM8.97 on Friday last week.