Azmin: Govt won’t interfere with Felda plan to sell Eagle High stake

PETALING JAYA: The government will not interfere with the Federal Land Development Authority’s (Felda) plan to sell back its 37 per cent stake in PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk (Eagle High) to Tan Sri Peter Sondakh’s Rajawali Group.

“The government has taken a stand not to interfere with the Felda board’s decision on this matter,” said Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

Felda concluded the Eagle High acquisition in April 2017 with a “put option” allowing it to sell back the stake to Rajawali Group for US$505.4 million (RM2 billion) plus an annual interest of six per cent.

It was reported that on Jan 3, Felda had written to Rajawali about its intention to invoke the “put” option because the Indonesian planter had shown little progress in obtaining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification, which is crucial to access the European Union palm oil market.

Felda’s move to exercise the option comes at a time when it is facing cashflow problems.

Rajawali, however, had stated its intention to challenge Felda’s put option in court.

“We hope Felda and Rajawali can reach an amicable solution,” Azmin said after attending a Chinese New Year celebration organised by the Federation of Hokkien Associations of Malaysia.

Present were Federation of Hokkien Societies president Tan Sri Lim Hock San, his deputy Tan Hong Aik and Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Tian Chua.

When asked about the deferred Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HighSpeed Rail (HSR) project, Azmin said since the HSR project had been suspended until May 31, 2020, no new workforce was needed until discussions on the new alignment and design scope were finalised.

The Finance Ministry is preparing the operating expenditure for MyHSR Corp for this year as MyHSR is still doing a technical and commercial study on the proposed new job scope and cost.