NBPOL under radar

 MALAYSIAN plantation giant Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) says it is looking at Papua New Guinea’s New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL) as part of its growth strategy.

A spokesperson said in a statement that its plans to acquire a stake in NBPOL were at a preliminary stage.

“We have yet to initiate any formal discussions and plans are purely at a preliminary stage at this juncture,” he told a newspaper in Kuala Lumpur.

There had been speculation that FGV, a corporate company of Malaysian government agency Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), would seek a major stake in NBPOL.

Another Malaysian company, Kulim (M) Ltd, holds 48.97% in NBPOL and had tried unsuccessfully last year to increase it by another 20%.

Kulim’s move was blocked by the PNG Securities Commission, apparently to thwart foreign ownership.

“In line with our growth strategy, we are exploring all opportunities to expand our upstream business,” the FGV spokesperson said on Monday.

“We would like to highlight, for FGV to become one of the top 10 agri-commodity players in the world in 2020, we are always looking out for any potential prospects that support our growth strategy.”

FGV is the world’s third largest oil palm plantation player and in 2012, raised US$3.1 billion (about K8.6 billion) its IPO as the second largest IPO in the world after Facebook.

It is one of several private corporate entities set up by FELDA, a government agency originally mooted to of help resettle the rural pool into newly-developed areas and to organise smallholder farms growing cash crops.

NBPOL, which has 77,000ha of oil palm plantations in PNG and the Solomon Islands, 12 palm oil mills and one refinery each in PNG and Liverpool, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of about K2.86 billion.

The company will hold its AGM at the Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby on Monday.