Delisting FGV for what?

10 days ago, this blog wrote about a hanky panky going-ons in FGV's subsidiaries, Felda Johor Bulkers and Felda Palm Industries involving supply of palm kernel shell by-product to Japan in what used to be a typical skimming that happen at the Felda "rancangan" level. 

The suspicion was it was happening at the concurrence of the top management of FGV at the headquarter.  MACC have moved in to investigate the suspicious business arrangement. So much for "professional" management.

Apparently sources claimed there was an arrest made at FGV recently and a contractor for other projects admitted to paying off several FGV officers to secure jobs. Thus the recent posting on FGV and the title "Last "kopek" on FGV?" of the posting are relevant.    

Just announced today is a General Offer by Felda and related parties on FGV shares to delist the controversial public listed company. Is the last "kopek" plan still on or back on the right track?

 FMT below:

FGV receives unconditional takeover offer from Felda at RM1.30 per share

Just now

Bernama

With this offer, Felda and its parties acting in concert would collectively hold a controlling stake of 86.93% in the plantation and agribusiness giant.

As of May 20, 2025, FGV Holdings Bhd’s total issued share capital stood at RM7.02 billion, comprising 3.64 billion ordinary shares and one special share held by MoF Inc.

KUALA LUMPUR: FGV Holdings Bhd (FGV) has received an unconditional voluntary takeover offer from the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), which seeks to acquire all remaining shares in the company not already under its control.

In a notice issued by Maybank Investment Bank Bhd on behalf of Felda, the offer proposes a cash consideration of RM1.30 per share for all outstanding ordinary shares of FGV not currently held by Felda.

As of May 20, 2025, FGV’s total issued share capital stood at RM7.02 billion, comprising 3.64 billion ordinary shares and one special share held by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc).

Felda currently owns 69.50% of FGV’s equity, amounting to 2.53 billion shares.

With this new offer, Felda and its parties acting in concert (PACs) would collectively hold a controlling stake of 86.93% in the plantation and agribusiness giant.

The PACs include Felda’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Felda Asset Holdings Company Sdn Bhd and the Pahang state government.

Other PACs include Koperasi Kakitangan Felda Malaysia Bhd, whose board consists of Felda management, as well as Sulong Jamil Shariff and his wife, Salina Samsudin.

The offer would be formally presented to shareholders via an offer document, which outlines the terms, conditions, and acceptance procedures.

“This document, along with the relevant forms, will be dispatched once the Securities Commission (SC) confirms that it has no further comments on its contents,” it said.

The move signals Felda’s continued efforts to consolidate control over FGV, following previous strategic manoeuvres to increase its stake in the company.

The offer by Felda to acquire the remaining shares in FGV would remain open for acceptance for a minimum of 21 days from the posting date.

The offer period may be extended at Felda’s discretion, with any changes to the closing date to be announced by Maybank Investment Bank at least two days in advance.

The offer may only be withdrawn with written consent from the SC, in which case all obligations under the offer would be voided.

More in The Star today also:

Felda to spend RM620mil for the takeover of FGV

CORPORATE NEWS

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

PETALING JAYA: After a failed attempt five years ago, the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is taking another shot to privatise FGV Holdings Bhd in a move that could cost Felda more than RM600mil.

Felda is offering to buy out minority shareholders at RM1.30 per share – the same price offered in the failed takeover attempt in 2020.

A fund manager told Starbiz that shareholders should not expect a better offer and may be better off cashing out.

“I think there’s no point holding out for a better offer simply because even if there is a better offer in place, it will be a very limited upside anyway,” he said.

“So, cashing out and then moving on to the next stock or investment would be wiser because there are a lot of opportunities also in the market now.”

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Felda announced its unconditional voluntary takeover offer to acquire all remaining shares in plantation giant FGV that it and its parties acting in concert (PAC) do not already own.

As at May 20, Felda and its PAC controlled 86.93% of FGV’s shares – just shy of the 90% threshold required to trigger a mandatory delisting under Bursa Malaysia’s rules. Felda’s latest takeover offer targets the remaining 13.07% stake or 476.9 million shares. Based on the offer price of RM1.30 per share, the exercise is valued at about RM620mil.

Currently, Felda alone directly holds 2.54 billion shares in FGV, or 69.5%. It also holds an indirect stake of 452.9 million shares, or 12.42%, through its wholly owned subsidiary Felda Asset Holdings Company Sdn Bhd, which is one of the PACs. This brings Felda’s total stake to 81.92%.

Including other PACs, namely, the Pahang state government (5%), Koperasi Kakitangan Felda Malaysia Bhd (0.01%), and Felda board member Sulong Jamil Mohamed Shariff and his wife Salina Samsudin (negligible stakes), Felda and its PAC collectively control 86.93% of FGV’s share base.

Should Felda receive valid acceptances that push its shareholding past the 90% mark, it will initiate a delisting of FGV from the Main Market. “The offeror does not intend to maintain the listing status of the offeree on the Main Market,” Maybank Investment Bank Bhd, on behalf of Felda, noted in the statement.

This marks Felda’s second attempt to privatise FGV, after its first effort in December 2020 fell short. Back then, Felda triggered a mandatory general offer at RM1.30 per share but failed to cross the 90% ownership threshold required to initiate a compulsory acquisition and delisting.

Since then, Felda has steadily increased its stake in FGV, but in 2021, its holding pushed the plantation group below Bursa Malaysia’s minimum public shareholding spread requirement of 25%. More recently, in March 2025, Bursa Malaysia rejected FGV’s application for an extension to restore its public spread.

This prompted Felda to make a fresh offer – a move aimed at resolving the prolonged non-compliance while bringing the group fully under government control.

Trading of FGV shares was suspended yesterday.

The plantation giant is valued at RM4.7bil based on its last traded price of RM1.28 per share. A fund manager noted that the offer price is only slightly above FGV’s current trading level, suggesting Felda isn’t aiming to offer a significant premium.

“For them to issue it at the same price, it means that to them, they view this as the maximum amount that they are willing to pay,” he said.

He added that once privatised, Felda would need to do a “lot of housecleaning” to make sure the company can stand on its own without the demands of being a listed entity.

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Investors got burned from this misadventure to list FGV. Perhaps, Pahang government and other entities are sticking around because selling the FGV shares to Felda will not recoup the investment made.

The presence of Pahang state government is spinned as strengthening FGV position. At the same time, there is a necessity for Pahang to maintain presence since sizeable number of Felda schemes are in Pahang.

The delisting certainly could resolve the operational conflict for Felda with regard to land matters. The land under FGV plantations are land leased from Felda. 

On the last line of Star's report on "lot of housecleaning", there must be sincerity to do so. When FGV as the so-called investment arm of Felda was listed, Felda established another; namely FIC and created  more mess from the investment made. 

The whole structure of Felda was broken up for whatever reasons into three independent organisations with three sets of BOD and management teams. So ....

• Will the delisting of FGV eventually lead to one consolidated organisation? 
• And, will the restructured Felda capable of managing, controlling and monitoring the expansive Felda organisations?
• Will the expected streamlining of operation cut out such nonsense and suspected corruption like the Palm Kernel Shell supply to Japan that is widespread in Felda organisation?

At the end, hopefully all involved have the interest of the rakyat, namely the 3rd and 4th generation of settlers, foremost in their mind over the self interest of corporations and God forbid, greed and corrupt of few top executives.